Biology begins with a simple yet profound question — what is life? Chapter 1 of Class 11 Biology, The Living World, lays the foundation for understanding this question in a scientific way. It explores the unique characteristics that differentiate living organisms from non-living things, including growth, metabolism, reproduction, and response to stimuli. The chapter also familiarizes students with the concept of taxonomy — the art of naming, classifying, and identifying organisms — and introduces systems like binomial nomenclature and classification hierarchies.
The NCERT Solutions for The Living World provided here offer detailed, step-by-step explanations for all textbook questions, helping students strengthen their conceptual understanding, clear doubts effectively, and prepare efficiently for both school exams and competitive tests like NEET.
NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Biology Chapter 1 - All Exercise Questions
Q.
Try to collect all the currently accepted meanings for the word ‘species’. Discuss with your teacher the meaning of species in case of higher plants and animals on one hand, and bacteria on the other hand.
Q.
Given below is the scientific name of Mango. Identify the correct written name.
Magnifera Indica
Magnifera indica
Q.
Illustrate the taxonomical hierarchy with suitable examples of a plant and an animal.
Q.
Why are living organisms classified?
Q.
Why are the classification systems changing every now and then?
Q.
What different criteria would you choose to classify people that you meet often?
Q.
What do we learn from the identification of individuals and populations?
Q.
Define a taxon. Give some examples of taxa at different hierarchical levels.
Q.
Can you identify the correct sequence of taxonomical categories?
(a) Species → Order → Phylum → Kingdom
(b) Genus → Species → Order → Kingdom
(c) Species → Genus → Order → Phylum
Q.
Define and understand the following terms:
(i) Phylum
(ii) Class
(iii) Family
(iv) Order
(v) Genus
Q.
How is a key helpful in the identification and classification of an organism?
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Class 11 Chapter 1 Biology Questions & Answers – The Living World
Here are the NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Biology Chapter 1 The Living World.
Q.1 Why are living organisms classified?
Solution: Classification is a process of grouping things based on easily observable characters. Classification of organisms is done for various scientific reasons. Some of the main reasons are listed below.
- Classification helps in the identification of specific organisms from the groups of organisms.
- It makes the study of organisms convenient.
- It helps in spotting the similarities and differences among the different groups of organisms.
- It helps in the study of fossils and evolutionary relationships of organisms.
Q.2. Why are classification systems changing?
Solution: Millions of living forms exist on the earth that include plants, animals and microorganisms. Out of them, many are known and have been classified by the scientists under suitable groups, but on the other side, many new species are continuously being discovered. Many of these newly discovered species have a new set of characters and to classify them, either a new system of classification should be developed or an older one should be revised. This brings changes in the existing system of classification every now and then.
Q.3. What different criteria would you choose to classify people you meet often?
Solution: We can classify the people we meet often on a various basis such as gender, age range, profession, education, hobbies and common interests.
Q.4. What do we learn from identifying individuals and populations?
Solution: In a diverse country like India, we can learn from the identification of individuals and populations about their native places, tribes, food habits, languages and dialects, clothing, religions, castes, customs, etc.
Q.5. Given below is the scientific name of Mango. Identify the correctly written name. Mangifera Indica or Mangifera indica?
Solution: Magnifera indica is the correct scientific name of Mango. It is because in the binomial system of nomenclature, the generic name of the species starts with the capital letter and the specific name starts with a small letter.
Q.6. Define a taxon. Give some examples of taxa at different hierarchical levels.
Solution: A taxon is a level in the hierarchical classification system. Examples of taxa at different levels include: (i) Kingdom (ii) Phylum (iii) Class (iv) Order (v) Family (vi) Genus (vii) Species
Q.7. Can you identify the correct sequence of taxonomical categories?
- (a) Species → Order → Phylum → Kingdom
- (b) Genus → Species → Order → Kingdom
- (c) Species → Genus → Order → Phylum
Solution: Both (a) and (c) are the correct sequence of taxonomical categories. The correct sequence of taxonomical categories is Species, Genus, Family, Order, Class, Phylum/Division, and Kingdom.
Q.8. What do you understand by the term ‘species’? Discuss its meaning in higher plants, animals, and bacteria.
Solution: Species refers to a group of organisms with similar characteristics. In higher plants and animals, reproductive isolation helps define species, while in bacteria, genetic information is used to classify species due to the inability to use reproduction as a criterion.
Q.9. Define and understand the following terms.
- (i) Phylum: Phylum is a taxon consisting of one or more classes that possess correlated characters. It comes just below the kingdom. In plants, classes with similar characters are assigned under division rather than phylum.
- (ii) Class: Class is a group of closely related orders. Class lies above order and below phylum. One example of a class is all members of class Mammalia have mammary glands to feed their offspring and have hair on their bodies.
- (iii) Family: Family is composed of different genera with less number of similarities as compared to the genus and species level. It lies above the genus and below order. Example: All tiger, lion and leopard belong to the cat family.
- (iv) Order: An order is the taxa with the one or more families of organisms that possess some specifically correlated characters that are different from the members of the different orders. It lies above family and below the class. The similar characters in an order are lesser in number as compared to different genera in the included family.
- (v) Genus: Genus is a group of related species which has more common characters in comparison to species of other genera. It lies above species and below family. Example: Lion, leopard and tiger belong to the same genus Panthera.
Q.10. How is a key helpful in the identification and classification of an organism?
Solution: A key helps classify organisms by comparing two contrasting characteristics. This method narrows down possibilities and is useful for identifying specific species, genera, or families.
Q.11. Illustrate the taxonomical hierarchy with suitable examples of a plant and an animal.
Solution: Here is an example of the taxonomical hierarchy for wheat (a plant) and humans (an animal):
| Taxonomic Category |
Wheat |
Human |
| Kingdom |
Plantae |
Animalia |
| Phylum/Division |
Angiospermae |
Chordata |
| Class |
Monocotylydonae |
Mammalia |
| Order |
Poales |
Primata |
| Family |
Poaceae |
Homonidae |
| Genus |
Triticum |
Homo |
| Species |
aestivum |
sapiens |
NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Biology Chapter 1 – FAQs
1. What are the important concepts covered in Chapter 1 of NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Biology?
Chapter 1 covers foundational concepts such as characteristics of living organisms, biodiversity, need and principles of classification, taxonomic categories, binomial nomenclature, and taxonomic aids. It introduces the importance of understanding the diversity of life and the systematic approach to naming and classifying organisms.
2. Where can I download the NCERT Solutions PDF for offline use?
You can directly download the questions and answers PDF for Chapter 1 from above. Additionally, you can access the official NCERT website to get the PDF for offline use, ensuring a reliable and comprehensive study resource.
3. What is the importance of studying “Class 11 Biology Chapter 1 The Living World”?
Studying this chapter is important as it lays the groundwork for understanding biological diversity and the basis of classification systems. It helps students appreciate the variety of life forms, the scientific methods used to categorize them, and builds a foundation for deeper biological concepts in later chapters