The weird, Wacky,
wonderful world of…
Kingdom Protista!
Animal-like Protists
Plant-like Protists
Fungus-like Protists
What is a protist??
• Kingdom Protista is a dumping ground for organisms
that don’t fit into any other Eukarya kingdoms
– Eukaryotes
– Unicellular or colonial
– Lots of different life styles
– Live in most environments
– Categorized by nutrition
Autotrophic Protists
• Algae (singular: alga)
• Photosynthetic
– Produce most of the oxygen in the atmosphere!
• No roots, stems, or leaves
• 4 phyla:
– Euglenaphytes (no cell wall; can be heterotroph in low light)
– Diatoms (patterned silica shells)
– Dinoflagellates (cause of red tides and bioluminescence; some
are heterotrophs)
– Red, Brown, Green algae
• Green algae were likely ancestral plants
Euglena
Volvox
Dinoflagellates
Chlamydomonas
Pediastrum
Diatoms
Volvox
A close-up of Volvox cells within the colony; 2 flagella and red eyespot are visible
Diatom cell wall is made of silica (like glass)
Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates
Red tides caused by toxic
dinoflagellates. This red
tide killed some fish.
Giant kelp are multicellular brown algae!
Fungus-like Heterotrophic
Protists
• Saprotrophs (feed
on dead organisms
or live as plant
parasites)
• Unlike fungi, they
can move!
• 3 phyla:
– Cellular Slime
Molds
– Plasmodium Slime
Molds
– Water Molds
Dog Vomit Slime Mold
Slime molds creep by amoeboid movement – can move as much as 2.5 cm/hour!
Water mold growing on a dead mayfly larvae
Animal-like Heterotrophic
Protists
• Proto = first; zoa = animals (singular:
Protozoan, plural: protozoa)
• Unicellular
• Heterotrophs
• 4 phyla (mostly grouped based on method of
movement)
–
–
–
–
Ciliates
Flagellates
Amoeboids
Sporozoans
Ciliates & Flagellates
• Ciliates
– Use cilia for movement
– Not parasitic
– Example: Paramecium
• Flagellates
– Use flagella for movement
– Some parasitic, e.g.,…
• Trypanosoma (African sleeping sickness)
• Giardia lamblia
– Some mutualistic, e.g.,…
• Trichonympha (help termites digest wood)
Giardia lamblia
Cilia
Trichonympha
Paramecium
Trichomonas vaginalis: an STD
African Sleeping Sickness (Trypanosoma)
Amoeboids
• Move via pseudopod ("false foot")
– Pseudopods: Cytoplasm-filled
projections
• Engulfs food by flowing around it
• Examples
Entamueba histolytica
– Entamueba histolytica (amoebic
dysentery)
– Foraminifera (CaCO3 shell)
– Amoeba
Amoeba
Foraminifera
Foraminifera
Sporozoans
• Sporozoans
– Parasitic; live inside a host
– Cannot move on their own
– Examples: Plasmodium falciparum (malaria), Toxoplasma
gondii (toxoplasmosis)
Toxoplasma
Plasmodium
Malaria in red blood cells