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Classification of Living Organisms — Homi Bhabha Class 9 Biology MCQs with Solutions
Free Homi Bhabha Class 9 Biology Classification of Living Organisms MCQs with step-by-step solutions covering Kingdom Classification, Classification of Plants, Microbes. Practise online on Prepizo — no login needed.
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Sample questions with solutions
Q1 — Kingdom Classification · easy · theory
Before Whittaker proposed the five-kingdom system, all living things were grouped into just two kingdoms (plants and animals). A major problem this two-kingdom system could NOT solve was:
A. How to measure the size of a single cell
B. Where to place organisms like Euglena that are both plant-like (photosynthetic) and animal-like (motile) ✓ Correct
C. Which organisms were living and which were non-living
D. How to name every organism with two words
Solution: Organisms such as Euglena make food like a plant yet move like an animal, so they did not fit neatly into either the plant or the animal kingdom. This limitation of the two-kingdom system led to newer schemes such as the five-kingdom classification.
Q2 — Kingdom Classification · easy · theory
Organism P has no membrane-bound (true) nucleus, while organism Q is a single-celled organism that does have a true nucleus. Into which kingdoms are P and Q best placed?
A. P in Protista and Q in Monera
B. Both in Monera
C. Both in Animalia
D. P in Monera and Q in Protista ✓ Correct
Solution: A prokaryote with no true nucleus (P) belongs to Kingdom Monera, whereas a unicellular eukaryote with a true nucleus (Q) belongs to Kingdom Protista.
Q3 — Classification of Plants · easy · theory
The plant kingdom is first divided into two broad groups, cryptogams and phanerogams, mainly on the basis of whether the plants:
A. Live in water or on land
B. Are tall or short
C. Are green in colour or not
D. Produce seeds or not ✓ Correct
Solution: Cryptogams (thallophytes, bryophytes and pteridophytes) are seedless, while phanerogams (gymnosperms and angiosperms) bear seeds. Presence or absence of seeds is the primary basis of this division.
Q4 — Classification of Plants · easy · theory
A plant has a body that is not divided into true roots, stems and leaves, and it lives in water. It most likely belongs to:
A. Pteridophyta
B. Gymnosperms
C. Angiosperms
D. Thallophyta ✓ Correct
Solution: A simple, undifferentiated (thallus-like) body with no true root, stem or leaf, often aquatic (for example algae such as Spirogyra), is characteristic of Thallophyta.
Q5 — Classification of Plants · easy · theory
A gardener finds a plant with parallel-veined leaves and fibrous roots. To which group does it most likely belong, and which is a correct example?
A. Dicotyledons, for example pea
B. Monocotyledons, for example maize ✓ Correct
C. Gymnosperms, for example pine
D. Bryophytes, for example moss
Solution: Parallel venation and fibrous roots are monocot features; maize is a monocotyledon. Dicots instead show net-like (reticulate) venation and tap roots.
Q6 — Microbes · easy · theory
Which one of the following microbes is the smallest, can be seen only with an electron microscope, and is considered to lie on the borderline between living and non-living?
A. Virus ✓ Correct
B. Bacterium
C. Fungus
D. Protozoan
Solution: Viruses are the smallest microbes, visible only under an electron microscope. They are inert outside a host cell yet reproduce inside one, so they are placed on the borderline between living and non-living.
Q7 — Microbes · easy · theory
During bread-making the dough rises because yeast carries out fermentation. The gas mainly responsible for the rising is:
A. Oxygen
B. Hydrogen
C. Nitrogen
D. Carbon dioxide ✓ Correct
Solution: Yeast ferments the sugars in the dough and releases carbon dioxide gas, whose bubbles make the dough rise.
Q8 — Kingdom Classification · hard · theory
Prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria are placed in the kingdom:
A. Fungi
B. Protista
C. Monera ✓ Correct
D. Plantae
Solution: Kingdom Monera contains prokaryotes like bacteria and cyanobacteria.
Q9 — Kingdom Classification · hard · theory
Unicellular eukaryotes such as Amoeba and Paramecium belong to the kingdom:
A. Animalia
B. Protista ✓ Correct
C. Monera
D. Fungi
Solution: Kingdom Protista includes single-celled eukaryotes.
Q10 — Kingdom Classification · hard · theory
The cell walls of fungi are made up of:
A. protein
B. cellulose
C. starch
D. chitin ✓ Correct
Solution: Fungal cell walls are made of chitin, unlike the cellulose walls of plants.
Q11 — Kingdom Classification · hard · theory
The two-word scientific naming system (genus + species) was given by:
A. Aristotle
B. Whittaker
C. Carolus Linnaeus ✓ Correct
D. Robert Hooke
Solution: Linnaeus introduced binomial nomenclature, using a genus and species name for each organism.
Q12 — Classification of Plants · hard · theory
Mosses and liverworts, called the "amphibians of the plant kingdom", belong to:
A. Thallophyta
B. Gymnosperms
C. Bryophyta ✓ Correct
D. Angiosperms
Solution: Bryophytes live in moist places and need water for reproduction, so they are called amphibians of the plant kingdom.
Q13 — Classification of Plants · hard · theory
Plants that bear naked seeds (not enclosed in a fruit), such as pine and cycas, are:
A. bryophytes
B. angiosperms
C. algae
D. gymnosperms ✓ Correct
Solution: Gymnosperms produce naked seeds that are not enclosed within a fruit.
Q14 — Classification of Plants · hard · theory
Angiosperms are further divided into monocotyledons and dicotyledons based on the number of:
A. cotyledons in the seed ✓ Correct
B. roots
C. leaves
D. petals only
Solution: Monocots have one cotyledon and dicots have two cotyledons in their seeds.
Q15 — Classification of Plants · hard · theory
Non-flowering plants that do not produce seeds are collectively called:
A. angiosperms
B. gymnosperms
C. phanerogams
D. cryptogams ✓ Correct
Solution: Cryptogams (thallophytes, bryophytes, pteridophytes) are seedless, non-flowering plants.
Q16 — Classification of Plants · hard · theory
A parallel-veined leaf and fibrous roots are typical features of a:
A. moss
B. fern
C. monocotyledon (e.g. grass) ✓ Correct
D. dicotyledon (e.g. mango)
Solution: Monocots such as grasses have parallel venation and fibrous roots, unlike dicots.
Q17 — Microbes · hard · theory
A microbe that can reproduce only inside a living host cell is a:
A. fungus
B. protozoan
C. virus ✓ Correct
D. bacterium
Solution: Viruses are non-living outside a host and can multiply only inside a living cell.
Q18 — Microbes · hard · theory
The antibiotic penicillin is obtained from a:
A. protozoan
B. green plant
C. virus
D. fungus (Penicillium) ✓ Correct
Solution: Penicillin, the first antibiotic, is produced by the mould Penicillium.
Q19 — Microbes · hard · theory
Nitrogen-fixing bacteria such as Rhizobium, found in the root nodules of legumes, help by:
A. producing oxygen
B. converting atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form ✓ Correct
C. destroying the plant
D. causing disease
Solution: Rhizobium fixes atmospheric nitrogen into compounds plants can absorb, improving soil fertility.
Q20 — Microbes · hard · theory
Which of the following is a HARMFUL activity of microorganisms?
A. Fixing nitrogen in soil
B. Making curd
C. Producing antibiotics
D. Causing food to spoil and diseases to spread ✓ Correct
Solution: Some microbes spoil food and cause diseases, which are their harmful effects.
Q21 — Kingdom Classification · hard · theory
A student argues that fungi should be placed in Kingdom Plantae because, like plants, they are non-motile and have cell walls. The BEST reason for keeping fungi in a separate kingdom is that fungi:
A. Are heterotrophs that absorb their food, whereas plants are autotrophs that make their own food by photosynthesis ✓ Correct
B. Are always unicellular, unlike plants
C. Completely lack cell walls
D. Are prokaryotic while plants are eukaryotic
Solution: Although fungi resemble plants in being non-motile and having cell walls, they cannot photosynthesise. They are heterotrophic (saprophytic or parasitic) and their walls are made of chitin, so they form a distinct kingdom.
Q22 — Kingdom Classification · hard · theory
Which of the following groups contains organisms that ALL belong to the SAME kingdom?
A. Bacterium, yeast and housefly
B. Mushroom, Amoeba and mango tree
C. Fern, earthworm and bacterium
D. Amoeba, Paramecium and Euglena ✓ Correct
Solution: Amoeba, Paramecium and Euglena are all unicellular eukaryotes belonging to Kingdom Protista. Each of the other groups mixes organisms from different kingdoms.
Q23 — Classification of Plants · hard · theory
Both a pine tree and a mango tree produce seeds, yet they are placed in different groups. The single feature that places the pine in gymnosperms and the mango in angiosperms is that:
A. Pine seeds are naked (not enclosed in a fruit) while mango seeds are enclosed within a fruit ✓ Correct
B. The mango is non-flowering while the pine is flowering
C. The pine is a cryptogam while the mango is a phanerogam
D. Pine has seeds but mango does not
Solution: Gymnosperms bear naked seeds that are not enclosed in a fruit, whereas angiosperms enclose their seeds inside a fruit that develops from the flower. Both, however, are seed plants (phanerogams).
Q24 — Classification of Plants · hard · theory
An unknown plant shows the following features: well-developed vascular (conducting) tissue, reproduces by spores, and bears NO seeds or flowers. The plant belongs to:
A. Pteridophyta ✓ Correct
B. Bryophyta
C. Gymnosperms
D. Angiosperms
Solution: Having vascular tissue rules out bryophytes and thallophytes, while the absence of seeds and flowers rules out gymnosperms and angiosperms. A spore-bearing vascular plant is a pteridophyte, for example a fern.
Q25 — Microbes · hard · theory
Malaria and the common cold are both diseases that spread among people, yet they are caused by very different microbes. Which pairing of the disease with its causative microbe is correct?
A. Malaria is caused by a protozoan (Plasmodium); the common cold is caused by a virus ✓ Correct
B. Malaria is caused by a virus; the common cold is caused by a bacterium
C. Malaria is caused by a bacterium; the common cold is caused by a protozoan
D. Malaria is caused by a fungus; the common cold is caused by a protozoan
Solution: Malaria is caused by the protozoan Plasmodium, spread by the female Anopheles mosquito, while the common cold is caused by a virus.
Q26 — Microbes · hard · theory
If all the decomposer microorganisms in an ecosystem were suddenly destroyed, the most direct consequence would be that:
A. Plants would immediately make much more food
B. Dead plants and animals would pile up and nutrients would not be returned to the soil ✓ Correct
C. Animals would begin to reproduce far faster
D. The air would quickly fill with oxygen
Solution: Decomposers (many bacteria and fungi) break down dead organisms and recycle their nutrients into the soil. Without them, dead matter would accumulate and soil nutrients would not be replenished.
Q27 — Kingdom Classification · medium · theory
The five-kingdom system of classification was proposed by:
A. R. H. Whittaker ✓ Correct
B. Carolus Linnaeus
C. Charles Darwin
D. Gregor Mendel
Solution: Whittaker proposed the five-kingdom classification in 1969.
Q28 — Kingdom Classification · medium · theory
Which of the following is NOT one of the five kingdoms?
A. Fungi
B. Protista
C. Bacteria ✓ Correct
D. Monera
Solution: The five kingdoms are Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia; "Bacteria" belongs within Monera.
Q29 — Kingdom Classification · medium · theory
Mushrooms and yeast are placed in the kingdom:
A. Monera
B. Animalia
C. Plantae
D. Fungi ✓ Correct
Solution: Fungi are heterotrophic organisms with cell walls of chitin; mushrooms and yeast belong here.
Q30 — Kingdom Classification · medium · theory
Organisms of the kingdom Animalia are characterised as:
A. multicellular heterotrophs without cell walls ✓ Correct
B. unicellular only
C. prokaryotes
D. autotrophs with cell walls
Solution: Animals are multicellular, heterotrophic and lack cell walls.