Diversity in Living World — NEET Botany MCQs with answers

Diversity in Living World is a Botany chapter in the NEET (UG) syllabus. NEET720 has 295 reviewed practice questions on it, each with a quick answer and a step-by-step explanation. The 8 questions below are free and fixed, so you can bookmark this page; the full chapter, plus mistake tracking and spaced revision, is in the app.

Topics covered

The Living World · Taxonomic Hierarchy · Binomial Nomenclature · Five Kingdom Classification · Kingdom Monera · Kingdom Protista · Kingdom Fungi · Viruses and Viroids · Kingdom Plantae · Viruses · Nomenclature Codes · Nomenclature and Identification · Taxonomy Fundamentals · Taxonomic Aids · Species Concept · Biodiversity Concepts · Taxonomic Categories · Nomenclature and Classification · Classification Systems · Diversity and Its Measurement · Diversity in Living World · Kingdom Classification Systems · Diversity Concepts · Taxonomic Hierarchy · Binomial Nomenclature · Taxonomic Processes · Herbarium Preparation · Taxonomic Key Usage · Growth Characteristic · Reproduction Characteristic · Genus and Species · Evolutionary Relationship and Reclassification · Habitat-Driven Taxonomic Revision · International Nomenclature Codes · Growth and Consciousness · Genus and Family placement chained with Binomial rules · Taxonomic Aids integrated · Class placement combined with Metabolism · Order placement combined with Nomenclature Code · Herbarium Anomaly

8 free Diversity in Living World practice questions with answers

Choose an answer in your head before opening it. Each explanation says why the correct option is right and, where relevant, why the tempting wrong option is wrong.

1. Question 1 · easy · The Living World

   Which one of the following is regarded as a defining property of living organisms because no non-living object exhibits it?

   • A.Growth
   • B.Reproduction
   • C.Metabolism
   • D.Movement
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: C. Metabolism

   Metabolism, the sum total of all chemical reactions occurring in a body, is exhibited by all living organisms and by no non-living object, making it a defining property of life.

   NCERT identifies metabolism, cellular organisation and consciousness as defining properties of living organisms. Growth fails as a defining criterion because non-living objects such as mountains, boulders and sand mounds also 'grow' by accumulation of material on their surfaces. Reproduction fails because sterile organisms like mules and sterile worker bees, and infertile human couples, are living yet do not reproduce. Movement is not a criterion of life at all in this framework. Metabolism, by contrast, occurs in every living organism — unicellular or multicellular — and never in a non-living object, so its presence is an exclusive, defining hallmark of life.

   Common mistake: Choosing growth or reproduction because they are the most familiar 'signs of life', ignoring NCERT's explicit exceptions.

   Key point: Metabolism, cellular organisation and consciousness are defining properties of life; growth and reproduction are not.

2. Question 2 · easy · The Living World

   Growth in living organisms is described by twin characteristics. These twin characteristics are:

   • A.Increase in cell size and increase in ploidy level
   • B.Increase in mass and increase in number of individuals
   • C.Cell division and cell differentiation
   • D.Increase in length and increase in surface area
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: B. Increase in mass and increase in number of individuals

   NCERT defines growth by two twin characteristics: increase in mass and increase in number of individuals (cells).

   Growth is described in NCERT as having twin characteristics — increase in mass and increase in number of individuals. A multicellular organism grows by cell division, which increases both cell number and body mass. In plants, such growth by cell division continues throughout life, while in animals it occurs only up to a certain age. Cell differentiation (option C) belongs to development, not to the definition of growth; ploidy changes (option A) are unrelated; and linear or surface measures alone (option D) are incomplete descriptors.

   Common mistake: Equating growth merely with an increase in size or length while forgetting the increase-in-number criterion.

   Key point: Growth = increase in mass + increase in number of individuals (cells).

3. Question 3 · medium · The Living World

   Mountains, boulders and sand mounds also 'grow', yet this growth is fundamentally different from the growth seen in living organisms. The essential difference is that:

   • A.Non-living objects grow by accumulation of material on their surface, whereas living organisms grow from inside
   • B.Non-living objects grow faster, whereas living organisms grow slowly and steadily
   • C.Non-living objects grow only in mass, whereas living organisms grow only in number
   • D.Non-living objects show reversible growth, whereas growth in living organisms is always irreversible and permanent in every case
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A. Non-living objects grow by accumulation of material on their surface, whereas living organisms grow from inside

   In non-living objects, growth occurs by accumulation of material on the outer surface (extrinsic), whereas living organisms grow by addition of material from inside (intrinsic growth).

   NCERT explicitly notes that mountains, boulders and sand mounds also grow, but by accumulation of material on the surface. In living organisms, growth is from inside — new protoplasm and cells are added internally through metabolic activity and cell division. This intrinsic versus extrinsic distinction is why the mere fact of 'growing' cannot define life. Options B and C invent criteria (rate, mass-vs-number split) that NCERT never uses, and option D misapplies the notion of irreversibility, which is not how the chapter separates living growth from non-living growth.

   Common mistake: Believing that only living things can grow, or distinguishing the two kinds of growth by speed rather than by mechanism.

   Key point: Living organisms grow from inside; non-living objects 'grow' by surface accumulation — hence growth is not a defining property.

4. Question 4 · medium · The Living World

   Read the two statements and choose the correct option. Statement I: Reproduction cannot be an all-inclusive defining characteristic of living organisms, because organisms such as mules and sterile worker bees do not reproduce. Statement II: In unicellular organisms, reproduction is synonymous with growth, i.e., increase in the number of cells.

   • A.Both Statement I and Statement II are correct
   • B.Both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect
   • C.Statement I is correct but Statement II is incorrect
   • D.Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A. Both Statement I and Statement II are correct

   Both statements are NCERT-correct: sterile organisms (mules, sterile worker bees, infertile couples) show reproduction is not all-inclusive, and in unicellular organisms cell division is at once growth and reproduction.

   Statement I is true — NCERT points out that mules, sterile worker bees and infertile human couples are living yet incapable of reproduction, so reproduction cannot be an all-inclusive defining property of life. Statement II is also true — in unicellular organisms such as bacteria and Amoeba, division of one cell into two increases the number of cells, which is simultaneously growth (increase in number) and reproduction (production of new individuals); hence the two terms are synonymous at the unicellular level. Since both are correct, option A is the answer.

   Common mistake: Assuming every living organism must reproduce, or treating growth and reproduction as always mutually exclusive processes.

   Key point: Sterile organisms prove reproduction is non-defining; in unicellular organisms growth and reproduction are the same event.

5. Question 5 · medium · The Living World

   Metabolic reactions can be demonstrated outside the body in cell-free systems. According to NCERT, such an isolated metabolic reaction performed in a test tube is:

   • A.Neither living nor a biological reaction
   • B.A living thing, because metabolism is a defining property of life
   • C.A non-living reaction occurring in a non-living system
   • D.Not a living thing, but surely a living reaction
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: D. Not a living thing, but surely a living reaction

   NCERT states that isolated metabolic reactions in vitro are not living things, but they are surely living reactions.

   All living organisms exhibit metabolism, and no non-living object does. However, metabolic reactions can be isolated from the organism and demonstrated in cell-free systems in a test tube. NCERT resolves this apparent paradox precisely: such an isolated reaction system is not a living thing (it lacks cellular organisation and the other attributes of an organism), yet the reaction it performs remains a living (biological) reaction. Options A and C wrongly strip the reaction of its biological character, while option B wrongly promotes the test-tube system to the status of a living object.

   Common mistake: Concluding that a test tube showing metabolism must be 'living', or that the reaction becomes non-biological once outside the cell.

   Key point: In vitro metabolic reactions are living reactions but not living things.

6. Question 6 · medium · The Living World

   A student writes in an examination: 'In all multicellular organisms, growth by cell division occurs only up to a certain age.' This claim is:

   • A.Correct, because cell division stops at maturity in every organism
   • B.Incorrect, because in plants growth by cell division continues throughout life
   • C.Correct, because after maturity organisms grow only by increase in cell size
   • D.Incorrect, because growth in animals also continues throughout life at a uniform rate
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: B. Incorrect, because in plants growth by cell division continues throughout life

   Plants show growth by cell division continuously throughout their life, whereas in animals such growth occurs only up to a certain age — so the student's blanket claim is wrong.

   NCERT contrasts the two patterns clearly: in plants, growth by cell division occurs continuously throughout their life span, largely because of persistent meristems; in animals, growth is seen only up to a certain age. The student's statement wrongly extends the animal pattern to all multicellular organisms. Option D correctly labels the claim 'incorrect' but for a wrong reason — animals do not keep growing throughout life. Options A and C accept the false claim. Note additionally that even in mature animals, certain cells keep dividing to replace lost cells, but that replacement is not the organism's growth in size.

   Common mistake: Applying the human/animal experience of 'stopping growth at adulthood' to plants as well.

   Key point: Plants grow throughout life; animal growth stops at a certain age (cell replacement continues, not growth).

7. Question 7 · easy · The Living World

   All organisms, from prokaryotes to the most complex eukaryotes, can sense and respond to environmental stimuli. However, self-consciousness — awareness of oneself — is attributed by NCERT to:

   • A.All mammals
   • B.All vertebrates with a well-developed brain
   • C.Human beings only
   • D.All eukaryotic organisms
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: C. Human beings only

   NCERT states that the human being is the only organism aware of itself, i.e., possessing self-consciousness.

   Consciousness — the awareness of surroundings and the ability to respond to environmental stimuli (light, water, temperature, other organisms, pollutants) — is shown by all organisms, prokaryotic and eukaryotic, and is a defining property of living organisms. Self-consciousness, however, is a higher attribute: NCERT singles out humans as the only organisms aware of themselves. Options A, B and D each blur the line between the universal property (sensing the environment) and the uniquely human property (awareness of self).

   Common mistake: Confusing 'consciousness' (response to stimuli, universal) with 'self-consciousness' (unique to humans).

   Key point: All organisms sense their environment, but only humans have self-consciousness.

8. Question 8 · medium · The Living World

   A farmer keeps a mule that has worked on his farm for fifteen years without ever producing offspring. Which line of reasoning correctly establishes that the mule is a living organism despite being sterile?

   • A.It exhibits metabolism, has cellular organisation and responds to environmental stimuli — and none of these defining properties requires reproduction
   • B.It must be capable of reproduction under suitable hormonal treatment, since all living organisms reproduce
   • C.It grows in size, and growth is the sole defining property of living organisms
   • D.It is living only because its parents (horse and donkey) were living organisms capable of reproduction
   Show answer and explanation

   Answer: A. It exhibits metabolism, has cellular organisation and responds to environmental stimuli — and none of these defining properties requires reproduction

   Life is established by the defining properties — metabolism, cellular organisation and consciousness — none of which depends on the ability to reproduce.

   The mule is one of NCERT's own examples of a living organism that cannot reproduce, which is exactly why reproduction is not an all-inclusive defining property of life. The mule's living status rests on the true defining properties: it performs metabolism (thousands of chemical reactions in its body), it is built of cells (cellular organisation), and it senses and responds to its environment (consciousness). Option B denies the exception; option C wrongly makes growth the sole criterion; option D confuses the origin of an organism with the criteria that make it living.

   Common mistake: Trying to rescue 'all living things reproduce' instead of applying the actual defining properties.

   Key point: A sterile organism is fully living because metabolism, cellular organisation and consciousness — not reproduction — define life.

Questions about Diversity in Living World for NEET

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Questions are original NEET720 compositions reviewed for correctness, syllabus fit and option quality. Counts update as the bank grows (295 active practice questions in this chapter today).