Answer: Can colonise bare rock and form soil.
- A Fix nitrogen from the air only
- B Are fast-growing green herbs
- C Can colonise bare rock and form soil
- D Grow only in unpolluted air
Correct answer: C. Can colonise bare rock and form soil
Explanation: Lichens can grow on bare rock, slowly weathering it and adding organic matter, thus helping to build the first soil for other plants.
Whittaker's five-kingdom system (1969) groups all cellular life by cell structure and nutrition; viruses, viroids, and lichens fall outside this system entirely since they aren't independently classifiable as one of the five.
Concept context
Whittaker's five kingdom system covering Monera, Protista, Fungi, plus viruses, viroids, and lichens. A foundational NEET chapter on how living organisms are grouped.