Name: ______________________________________________Date:___________Protist:_____
Study Guide – Protist Quiz (30 points)
1. List general characteristics of protists.
Unicellular, Eukaryotic Cells, Live in watery
environments, 3 groups (animal-like, plant-like, funguslike), live individually or in colonies and as parasites,
aerobic, autotrophs and heterotrophs, reproduce
sexually and asexually…
2. Label/identify the structures of protists.
3. Functions of protist structures.
Chloroplasts – use light to make sugars/food
Cilia – tiny, hair-like structures used to move
Contractile Vacuole – holds water and pumps it out
Eyespot – helps to find light
Flagellum – long, whip-like tail used to move
Food Vacuole – stores food
Nucleus – holds DNA, controls the cell
Oral Groove – used to bring food in
Pellicle – rigid outer structure, holds cell shape
Pseudopods – used to move and eat
4. What structures do protists use to move?
See questions 3.
5. Symbiosis, mutualism, and parasitism.
Symbiosis – when two organisms live in a
relationship where one lives in or on the other and
benefits from the relationship.
Mutualism – symbiosis where both benefit
Parasitism – symbiosis where one benefits and
one is harmed
6. Autotroph (chloroplast) and Heterotroph.
Autotrophs produce their own food.
Heterotrophs eat others.
7. Three groups of protists.
Animal-like – move and eat others
Plant-like – have chloroplasts to make their own
food
Fungus-like – grow on the food source they eat
8. Malaria, trypanosomes, red tides, and dead zones.
Malaria is caused by a protist and is spread by
the mosquito, which acts as a vector. Bed nets
are the most cost effective way to reduce
numbers of infected people in developing
nations.
Trypanosomes also have an insect vector; in
Africa it is the tsetse fly, and in Central/South
America it is the kissing bug. Bed nets can also
protect people from getting bitten.
Red tides are caused by dinoflagellates, plantlike protists. They often occur in warm,
nutrient rich waters. Everything in a red tide
dies except bivalves, which are poisonous if
eaten.
Dead Zones are most often found in industrial
nations where rivers, carrying fertilizer and
animal waste, empty into the oceans. The
process of eutrophication results in a dead
zone. There are constant dead zones in the
Gulf of Mexico off the Mississippi Delta, and in
the Chesapeake Bay.
Steps to a dead zone: fertilizer/animal
waste washes into rivers and lakes causing
algae blooms in the rivers and lakes, and on a
larger scale in the oceans they empty into. The
algae at the surface blocks out all light, killing
the algae and plant life underneath. Bacteria
decompose the dead plant life, using up all the
dissolved oxygen. All life in the water dies.
9. Gametes, diploid, haploid, spore.
Gametes are sex cells, like sperm and eggs.
Gametes are haploid cells because they only
contain half the genetic information, or half the
DNA.
Body cells are diploid and have a complete set of
genetic information, or all the DNA.
Spore are reproductive cells with genetic material
that will grow into an organism if conditions are
right.
10. Ecology terms: ecosystem, habitat, community, population, niche.
Ecosystem – the living community and the
interaction between its members and the physical
environment.
Habitat – the physical environment in the
ecosystem that a population is found.
Community – the living part of an ecosystem.
Population – a species within the community.
Niche – the job of an organism/population in an
ecosystem.