Zaymiey

🔬 Biology  ·  Biological Classification  ·  NEET

The mode of nutrition in which an organism feeds on dead and decaying matter is:

Answer: saprophytic.

  • A saprophytic
  • B parasitic
  • C autotrophic
  • D holozoic

Correct answer: A. saprophytic

Explanation: Saprophytes decompose dead organic matter for food.

Whittaker's Five KingdomsMoneraprokaryotesProtistaunicell. eukaryotesFungichitin wallPlantaecellulose wallAnimaliano wallNOT in any kingdom: Viruses (non-cellular), Viroids (RNA, no coat), Lichens (alga+fungus symbiosis)Classification criteria: cell structure, nutrition mode, body organisation, reproduction, phylogeny

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.

Read the full Biological Classification notes →