Objective – Identify characteristics of algae, fungi, and protists.
Characteristics of Algae, Bacteria, Fungi, and Protists Vocabulary
Algae – Plant-like protists that live in water and contain chlorophyll. They produce
oxygen and their own food.
Bacteria – Microscopic single-celled organisms that exist everywhere.
Conclusion – The summary of an experiment based on data.
Control – A part of the experiment that is unchanged.
Culture – To grow microorganisms in a specially prepared nutrient medium i.e.
growing mold on bread, your bread is your nutrient medium.
Decomposer – An organism, often a bacterium or fungus, that feeds on and breaks
down dead plant or animal matter.
Experiment – A series of steps to find the answer to a question.
Fungi – Organisms that are neither plant nor animals but have characteristics of both
and absorb food from whatever they are growing on.
Hypothesis – An idea or question that can be tested.
Investigation – A process designed to answer a question.
Microorganism – A living thing that can only be seen with the aid of magnification.
Organism – Any living thing.
Protozoan – A single- celled-animal-like organism that often lives in ponds.
Producer – A living thing, like a green plant, that makes its food from simple
substances and sunlight.
Single-celled organism – Any organism that has only one cell, the smallest unit of
life.
Variable – A part of an experiment that is changed.
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Objective – Identify characteristics of algae, fungi, and protists.
Bacteria (Bacterium singular)
 All bacteria are single-celled organisms (something that’s alive).
 Bacteria are found everywhere.
 Come in three shapes.
 Round (coccus [plural cocci])
 Rod (bacillus [plural bacilli] )
 Spiral (spirillum)
 Some bacteria are consumers.
 Some bacteria are producers.
Algae
 Plant-like protists
 Primarily green
 Can also be brown or red.
 Produce 50% of the oxygen we breathe.
 Primary source for organisms living in water.
 Free-floating (go-with-the-flow).
 Range from single-cell to 100 meters long.
 Live in water.
Fungi (Fungus singular)
 Neither plant nor animal.
 Consumer.
 Eat by absorbing food.
 Get food from soil, wood, decaying organic (once living) matter, and living
plants/other organisms.
 Can be from single-celled to largest organism alive.
 Can’t move.
 Decomposers.
 Feeds on and breaks down dead plant or animal matter.
 Examples.
 Mushrooms.
 Truffles.
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Objective – Identify characteristics of algae, fungi, and protists.
 A mushroom like fungus that grown underground; primarily found in
Europe; a highly valued food.
 Lichen
 Fungus often found as white or yellow patches on old walls, etc.
Protists
 All are single-celled organisms.
 Found in water.
 Can be consumer or producer.
 Major types of protozoan.
 Amoeba
 Euglena
 Paramecium
Protozoan Fact Sheet
Amoeba
Color – Clear.
Shape – Irregular (always changing).
Size - .03 inches.
Moves Using – Pseudopods (false feet).
Lives – Fresh water at the bottom of pond or puddle.
Eats – Algae, bacteria, other protozoans, dead plant
or animal matter.
 Eats It – Zooplankton, other protozoans.
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Euglena
Color – Green.
Shape – Oval.
Size - .002 inches.
Moves Using – Flagellum (flagella plural).
Lives – Marine and fresh water.
Eats – Makes own food; can also eat green
algae.
 Eats It – Water Fleas, fish, and other aquatic
animals.
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Objective – Identify characteristics of algae, fungi, and protists.
Paramecium
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Color – Pale.
Shape – Oval.
Size - .003 to .01 inches.
Moves Using – Cilia.
Lives – Fresh water.
Eats – Algae, bacteria, other protozoans, dead plant or animal matter.
Eats It – Didinium, amoeba, Euglena, rotifers, copepods, and other small animals that live in
water.
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