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Most are unicellular
There are 3 groups
 Animal like
 Fungus like
 Plant like
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A protist is an eukaryote that is NOT a plant,
animal or fungus
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Aka protozoans
They are heterotrophs – they eat prokaryotes
and other protozoans
Many are parasites (living off other
organisms i.e. where they live – at the
expense of that organism)
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Ex. Amoeba
No cell walls, only cell membrane
Changes shape using cytoskeleton to move
and create different forms
Creates pseudopod (refer to page 73 figure
2.18)
Lives in salt/fresh water, mud, inside animal
hosts
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They have short hair like projections called
cilia
They help in cell movement
Many speices are large and complex
Some are are free living, some are parasite
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Have one or more flagellum
Have hard protective covering
Some are free living, some are parasites,
some exist in mutualistic relationships
Ex. Flagellates in intestines that help hosts
digests plants
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These are parasites of animals
They alternate between sexual and asexual
reproduction (Refer to pg 74 Figure 2.21)
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Heterotrophs
They have spores like fungi
Ex. Slime mould
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Visible to the naked eye
Slug like organism near damp, decaying plant
materials
Contains many nuclei
Engulfs materials like an amoeba
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Exist as individual amoebid cells
Feeds by ingesting bacteria/ yeast cells
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Filamentous organisms
Live on dead organic material
Some are parasites
\Releases threads into hosts, then digestive
enzymes, then absorbs nutrients
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Contain pigments in their chloroplast that
allows for photosynthesis to occur
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Phytoplankton, single celled free floating
aquatic oragnism
Rigid cell walls made of silica
Asexual, reproduce via mitosis most of the
time
Sexually, if unfavourable conditions
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Most are phytoplankton
2 flagella perpendicular to each other
Reproduce very quickly
 Sometimes , so quickly that it produces a “red
tide”
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Some dinoflagellates live in other organisms
Most exhibit mutualism
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Most are found in shallow fresh water
Conduct photosynthesis AND can absorb
nutrients
 Autotrophs in sunlight
 Heterotrophs in absence of sunlight
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Has light detectors called eyespots that
allows the flagella to orient the euglenoid
towards the light