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KINGDOM PROTISTA

(Courtesy of Ohio State University)

Members of this kingdom are

1. made up of a complex eukaryotic cell,
2. some members make their own food,
3. and some take food in from an outside source.

General information:

• Much more complicated than monerans
• Cell is somewhat like the whole body of a plant or animal "stuffed" into a single cell
• Has many specialized parts that carry out specific functions of living
  • Example: We have legs for walking that are made of many cells. Protists use special parts of its SINGLE cell as "legs"
• Cells are so complex that they are often thousands of times larger the one of our own cells in our body.

Phyla:

Diatoms

• Covered by two shells that fit together like a pill box
• Float on the surfaces of fresh and salt water
• Food is stored within their cells as small drops of "oil"
• Much of our petroleum may be the stored food of diatoms that lived millions of years ago

 

 

Dinoflagellates

• Have two whip-like tails for movement
• Make their own food
• Live on the surface of water
• Overpopulation can leave water smelling and tasting bad

 

 

Euglena

• Biologists used to think they where plants or animals
• They are protists because of their specialized structures within each cell
  • Have green pigments to make their own food through photosynthesis
  • Have a kind of an "eye"
  • Swim to move about
  • Appear to have a mouthlike structure

Protozoans

• Pursues, catches and swallows its food
• Grouped into classes according to the way they move about (only 4 classes are shown below)

Classes of Protozoans

Sarcodines

• Resemble small masses of cloudy gelatin
• Move by pushing out parts of their cell membranes
• Fluids in these parts of the cell flow in the direction they are moving

Ciliates

• Are covered by short hairlike structures called cilia
• The cilia contract in "waves" to push the organism along
• Cilia movement may "sweep" food into the mouthlike structures

Flagellates

• Move by using one or two whiplike tales called flagella
• Most live independently
• Some live inside other organisms
• Those that live inside other organisms may cause diseases such as African sleeping sickness

Sporozoans

• Live inside other organisms
• Most have no structures to move about
• Depend on their "host" for transportation
• Example: Malaria sporozoans are carried about in the human body by the bloodstream