Question

Which one shows the hierarchical arrangement of taxonomic categories of plants in descending order?
a) ${ Kingdom }\leftarrow { Division\leftarrow { Class } }\leftarrow { Order\leftarrow { Family\leftarrow { Species\leftarrow { Genus } } } }$
b) ${ Kingdom }\leftarrow { Division\leftarrow { Class } }\leftarrow { Order\leftarrow { Family\leftarrow { Genus\leftarrow { Species } } } }$
c) ${ Kingdom }\rightarrow { Division\rightarrow { Order } }\rightarrow { Class\rightarrow { Family\rightarrow { Genus\rightarrow { Species } } } }$
d) ${ Kingdom }\rightarrow { Division\rightarrow { Class } }\rightarrow { Order\rightarrow { Family\rightarrow { Genus\rightarrow { Species } } } }$

Answer 1

Hint Hierarchical arrangement is the order in which the biological classification of an organism is done on the basis of the major taxonomic ranks. In this, the highest in the kingdom under which other categories follow.

Complete answer: In the biological classification the hierarchical arrangement is from the Kingdom which is the highest rank of an organism. There is a five-kingdom classification which is considered now. Earlier there was only three kingdom classification in which the unicellular organism was in one kingdom and all the plants were in another kingdom and all the animals were categorized under one kingdom. But in the five-kingdom classification, there are prokaryotes present in Monera and eukaryotes present in the Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and animal kingdom. Whittaker gave the five-kingdom classification which is followed to date. The kingdom consists of division or phylum which is present under it. Then comes the class which is followed by the order, then family then genus and finally concluding at species. A scientific name of an organism is composed of the genus and the species name together which for the whole name of the organism. This type of arrangement is helpful in the study of an organism that is unknown and is newly discovered. The unknown organism can be compared with the functions and basic structure of the organism already present in a particular division.

So, the answer is ‘${ Kingdom }\rightarrow { Division\rightarrow { Class } }\rightarrow { Order\rightarrow { Family\rightarrow { Genus\rightarrow { Species } } } }$’.

Note: The first classification made was based on the domains of the organism which had so much broad category of classification. This type of classification was then improved by the three-kingdom classification. Though this classification was also not suitable for the various protists and fungi which were neither like monerans nor were like plants. So, the five-kingdom classification is the most apt classification of all times.