Question

a student proposed a model of the classification of living things where all of the organisms that contain a cell wall were placed into one group while those organisms that did not have the cell membrane surrounded by a cell wall were placed into a separate group. which statement(s) correctly judges the proposed model by the student correctly? select all that apply. classification of living things domain bacteria archaea eukarya kingdom eubacteria archaebacteria protista fungi plantae animalia cell type prokaryote prokaryote eukaryote eukaryote eukaryote eukaryote cell structures cell walls with peptidoglycan cell walls without peptidoglycan cell walls of cellulose in some, some chloroplasts cell walls of chitin cell walls of cellulose, chloroplasts no cell walls or chloroplasts number of cells unicellular unicellular most unicellular, some colonial, some multicellular most multicellular, some unicellular multicellular multicellular mode of nutrition autotroph or heterotroph autotroph or heterotroph autotroph or heterotroph heterotroph autotroph heterotroph examples streptococcus escherichia coli methanogens halophiles amoeba paramecium slime molds green algae mushrooms, yeasts mosses, ferns, flowering plants sponges, worms, insects, fishes, mammals fungi and plants both share a cell wall, so they are less related to animals than they are to each other. this supports the students placement. fungi are more closely related to animals than to bacteria, so the presence of a cell wall is not an indication of evolutionary history. therefore the students placement is not supported by the data. fungi and bacteria act as decomposers in the ecosystem, so their similar placement into groups by the student is supported by the data. organisms with cell walls are more closely related, even if the cell walls differ in structure, so the students placement is supported by the data. the presence of a cell wall likely evolved three separate times, so the placement of these organisms together is unsupported by the data.

Explanation:

• Option 1: Fungi and plants having cell walls doesn't mean they are more related to each other than to animals. Classification should be based on evolutionary relationships (like cell - type, domain etc.). Fungi are in Eukarya (like animals) but have different evolutionary paths. So this option is incorrect.
• Option 2: Fungi (Eukarya) are more closely related to animals (Eukarya) than to bacteria (Bacteria domain). Cell - wall presence is not a good indicator of evolutionary history as it has evolved differently in different groups. This option is correct.
• Option 3: Just because fungi and bacteria act as decomposers (a functional trait) doesn't mean their placement based on cell - wall (a structural trait) is correct. Classification should be based on evolutionary relationships. So this option is incorrect.
• Option 4: Cell - wall structure (e.g., peptidoglycan in bacteria, chitin in fungi, cellulose in plants) is different and evolved separately. So grouping based on cell - wall presence (without considering structure and evolution) is wrong. This option is incorrect.
• Option 5: Cell - wall likely evolved separately in bacteria (peptidoglycan), fungi (chitin), and plants (cellulose). So grouping them together is not supported by evolutionary data. This option is correct.

Answer:

B. Fungi are more closely related to animals than to bacteria, so the presence of a cell wall is not an indication of evolutionary history. Therefore the student’s placement is not supported by the data.
E. The presence of a cell wall likely evolved three separate times, so the placement of these organisms together is unsupported by the data.