Exploratour - Life in the Solar System

Polar Bear
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy of Corel Photography

To read more about it, try the Life on Earth Exploratour,

Or link to our section on life where you can read about Animalia, Fungi, Monera, Protista, and

Earth is teeming with life. The table below gives a brief overview of life on Earth, catagorized the way biologists catagorize life on Earth.

The Animal Kingdom

  • mammals
    • elephants, rodents, etc
  • arthropods
    • insects, crabs
  • reptiles
is multi-cellular and complex

The Monera Kingdom

  • bacteria
  • archaea
is procaryotic; unicellular, no membrane-bound organelle nor nuclei.

The Plant Kingdom

  • trees, flowers, etc
varies from multi-cellular to eucaryotic; unicellular, with membrane-bound organelle and nuclei

The Protista Kingdom

  • Amoeba, etc.
Protists can be unicellular, multicellular or colonial. Some move around and act like animals, others perform photosynthesis like plants

The Fungi Kingdom

  • athletes foot, etc
resembles animals; cannot make its own food through photosynthesis; consumes organic matter.



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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA