Protists
The most diverse kingdom
Basic Characteristics
• all live in moist
environments.
• are unicellular or
multi-cellular
Why are Protists important?
They:
• provide food and energy for pond food
chains
• support the fish and animal life in and
around the pond.
3 types of Protists
• 1) Animal-like
• 2) Plant- like
• 3) Fungus-like
1) Protozoa {animal-like Protists}
(means first animal)
• All protozoa digest their
food in stomach-like
compartments called
vacuoles.
• they make and give off
nitrogen
Life in a drop of pond water
4 types of Protozoans
a) Move by cilia
b) Move by “false-feet” (psuedopod)
c) Move by Flagella
d) Don’t move (parasites)
a) Ciliates
• have hair-like
projections called cilia
• They use the hairs to
help food particles get
sucked in to them
• beat their cilia in a
rhythmic pattern to
move along
paramaceium
b) Amoeba (Sarcodines)
• they ooze about by
extending parts of
their cell as
pseudopods or "false
feet."
• they have fluid cell
membranes or
coverings that they
can stretch out, bend
and curve.
c) Flagellates Chilomonas
• have one or several
long, whip-like
projections called
flagella poking out of
their cells.
• they swim by waving
their flagella, using
them much like a fish
uses its tail to push
itself through water.
Euglena
d) Protists that don’t move
• Parasitic protozoans
• Malaria –Anopholes
mosquito
'''Toxoplasma gondii'''
Some Protozoans we expect to
find:
Spirostomum
Euplotes
Euglena
Chilomonas Dileptus
How are protists harmful?
Malaria
• is caused by a sporozoan (a parasitic protist)
• enters through the Anopheles mosquito
African Sleeping sickness
• *Flagellates called trypanosomes
• Cause fever and sleepiness
• http://www.utm.edu/departments/cece/old_site/seventh/7D2.shtml