General Information
Kingdom Protista
Unicellular plants and animals
Characteristics
1.
Eukaryotic
(have a nucleus)
„
Protista, from the Greek protistos = first
„
Diverse group
„
Aka Algae & Protozoa
„
Most are Unicellular
exception: Volvox is colonial
Characteristics
2.
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3. Habitats
Many feeding patterns
some plant-like,
some animal-like,
some saprophytes
(absorb food like fungi do)
some parasites
(pathogens)
4. Reproduction
a.
Alternation of Generations
Almost anywhere there is water
☯ switch btwn. asexual repro. (spores)
& sexual repro. (gametes) & back again
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5. Multicellularity
6. Classification by Exclusion
❀
Cells specialized
for f(x)s
❀ Division of labor
❀ E.g. holdfast cell,
gamete-forming
cells
✿ If organism doesn’t belong in any other
phylum, put it in this one!
I.e. Weirdos go in this group!
Holdfast cell
7. Protist Groups
a.
Pseudopodia for locomotion
= “false feet”
Animal-like, parasites
AMOEBAS
E.g. ★Amoeba
8. Protist Groups
b. Foraminifera
Source of CaCo3
(calcium carbonate / chalk)
E.g. The
white cliffs
of Dover
E.g. Entamoeba
histolytica
(amoebic dysentary)
8. Protist Groups
8. Protist Groups
c. Diatoms
d. Green
Photosynthetic, unicellular, double shells
of SiO3(glass)
Algae
plant-like protists
E.g. ★Volvox, endosymbionts of jellyfish
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8. Protist Groups
e. Red
8. Protist Groups
Algae
f. Brown
Source of agar
Algae
E.g.
kelp
(growth medium
for bacteria)
8. Protist Groups
Red (Crimson) Tide
Protists with
Flagella (animal-like)
g. Dinoflagellates
E.g. Gonyaulux
Capable of
bioluminescence
(glowing in the dark)
the red tide
makes scallops
toxic to humans
8. Protist Groups
8. Protist Groups
e.g. ★Euglena
★use flagella to move
h. Euglenoids
✰Causes giardia /
backpackers’ disease
✰Trichonympha in termites
digest wood (cellulose)
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8. Protist Groups
i. Cilia for locomotion -Ciliates)
★Paramecium
8. Protist Groups
Slime Molds
„ Cellular
„ Acellular
j.
8. Protist Groups
8. Protist Groups
k. Water Molds
E.g. potato blight
Caused potato famine
in Ireland
1845-1847
400,000 starved
l. ★Sporozoans
„ Cannot
move themselves
„ Move via vectors
l. ★Sporozoans
EXAMPLES:
E.g. Plasmodium (causes malaria)
vector = Anopheles mosquito
E.g. Toxoplasmolysis (from cat feces
causes fetal death)
E.g. African sleeping sickness
vector = tsetse fly
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