Ally Bo, Tony Wang, and Ben Szurek
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To be a protist, an organism must be
Eukaryotic
This means to have a nucleus that contains
the organisms DNA
Cells are larger than archaea and bacteria
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Can be single-celled, multicellular, or colonial
Size ranges from microscopic to very large
Can look like animals, plants or fungi, but are
usually simpler and smaller
Cell Walls differ based on the species
The kingdom is divided into three broad
categories
Group
Description
Animal-Like
-Heterotrophs (cannot synthesize own food)
-Organisms that consume other organisms
-All single-celled
Plant-like
-Make own food by photosynthesis just like plants do
(autotrophs, can synthesize own food)
-Can be single-celled, multicellular, or colonial
-May have chloroplasts, but no roots, stems or leaves
Fungus-like
-Dead organisms decompose
-Can move during part of their life
-Heterotrophs (cannot synthesize own food)
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Rhizopoda- Rhizopods, Have and use foot like appendages to move
and feed, animal like (Ex. Amoeba)
Rhodophyta- Red Algae, Multi-cellular, photosynthetic, live in salt
water, contains red pigment, plant like (Ex. Coralline Algae)
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Apicomplexa- Sporozoans, Parasites than move by
Body flexion or gliding. Cause diseases in birds and humans, animal
like (Ex. Plasmodium)
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Ciliophora- Ciliates, possess many short hair type things called
Paramecium
Cilia, use them for feeding and movement, animal like (Ex.
Paramecium)
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-Microscopic, hard for predators to find
-Don’t need much food, only need sunlight
for photosynthesis (except animal like
Protista)
-Some create diseases in creatures from
other Kingdoms
-Some Protista are extremely tough
-Protists are very diverse, and the whole
Kingdom Protista contains various features of
all the other Kingdoms
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-Without zooflagellates (type of Protista)
termites would not be able to survive.
Zooflagellates play a vital role in helping the
termites digest the wood they eat
- Algae produces 80% of the world’s oxygen.
Algae is made by protists
-Green algae was an ancestor to many
modern plants
-Red algae provides many products like ice
cream, and dried red algae is used to roll
seaweed