Animals
The animal kingdom
is the largest kingdom with over 1 million known species. All animals consist of many complex cells. They are also heterotrophs.
Plants
It contains all the plants that you have come to know - flowering plants, mosses, and ferns. Plants are all multicellular and consist of complex cells.
With over 250,000 species,
the plant kingdom is the second largest kingdom. In addition plants are autotrophs, organisms that make their
own food
Fungi
Mushrooms, mold and mildew are all examples of organisms in the kingdom fungi. Most fungi are multicellular and consists
of many complex cells.
Unlike
plants, fungi cannot make their own food. Most obtain their food from
parts of plants that are decaying in the soil. Some fungi taste great and others can kill you!
Eubacteria
Like archaebacteria, eubacteria are complex and single
celled. Most bacteria are in the EUBACTERIA
kingdom. They are the kinds found everywhere and are the ones people are most
familiar with. Most
eubacteria are helpful. Some produce
vitamins and foods like yogurt. Others
cause diseases.
Archaebacteria
In 1983, scientists tool samples from a spot deep in the Pacific Ocean
where hot gases and molten rock boiled into the ocean form the Earth’s
interior. To their surprise they
discovered unicellular (one cell) organisms in the samples. These
organisms are today classified in the kingdom, Archaebacteria.
Archaebacteria
are found in extreme environments
such as hot boiling water and thermal vents under conditions with no oxygen or highly acid environments.
Protists
Slime molds and algae are protists. Sometimes they are called the odds and ends kingdom because its members
are so different from one another. Protists include
all microscopic organisms that are not bacteria, not animals, not
plants and not fungi.
