Heterotroph
Most motile
Eukaryotes
Unicellular
General Characteristics
Heterotroph
Most motile
Eukaryotes
Unicellular
This category can be broken down
into four groups:
| Group | Phylum Name |
| Flagellates | Mastigophora |
| Ciliates | Ciliophora |
| Sporozoans | Sporozoa |
| Rhizopods | Sarcodina |
Nutrition
Protozoans hunt, digest and store food. Most are heterotrophs. They feed on other animals to obtain the nutrients they need to live.
Movement
Protozoans move by the use of cilia, flagella, pseudopods or some have no movement (Sporozoa).
Defense
When too much water collects in the cell, the vacuole move to the outer surface of the cell and squeezes out the water. This stops the cell from swelling up and bursting.
Reproduction
Asexual reproduction of protozoans occurs when the cell divides in half by binary fission. Some which are parasites multiply within the host. Some protozoans reproduce sexually as well. This can happen when two protozoans carrying half of their regular genetic material fuse together and form a new cell. Others exchange genetic material during mating.
Respiration
Respiration takes place when oxygen diffuses into the cell, where the food molecules become oxidized. The energy produced and the organic molecules are used for maintenance and building of the cell. Waste products ,carbon dioxide and water diffuse out of the cell.
Excretion
Waste materials
in protozoans are removed from the cell by diffusion through the cell.
They are transported out of the cell by food vacuoles that come in
contact with the surface. This is known as exocytosis.
General Characteristics
motile (pseudopod)
eukaryote
heterotroph
Taxonomic Breakdown
| Kingdom | Protista |
| Phylum | Sarcodina |
Nutrition
They engulf
their food with their pseudopods where it then forms a food vacuole. This
is where the food is broken down and spread throughout the rhizopod. This
process is called phagocytosis.
Movement
They move with the use of their pseudopods.
Reproduction
Amoebas, under favorable conditions, reproduce by binary fission (This means dividing in two), producing two daughter amoebas. The nucleus divides by mitosis. If ameobas are divided artificially the nucleus does not divide. Only the half of the amoeba containing the nucleus survives while the other half dies. If conditions are unfavorable the amoeba will secrete a protective covering and wait until conditions are favorable to divide.
Excretion
Materials that are useless to the amoeba are held in the food vacuole until the vacuole comes in contact with the membrane of the body surface. This is where the waste is expelled from the body
Respiration
Respiration takes place by diffusion of gases through the cell membrane
Defense
The Arcella, known as a domed Amoeba, builds a transparent dome from whatever building materials it can find in the pond, usually sand. It then encloses itself in the dome for protection.
Economic Importance
The skeletons of Foramininfera make up much of the limestone and chalk on the Earth.
Examples of Rhizopods
Amoeba proteus (common amoeba)
Entamoeba histolytica (causes
amoebic dysentery)
Radiolarians (internal
glass-like skeletons)
Foraminifera
(large shelled amoeboid belonging to Sarcodina)
To
see images of Rhizopods Click Here
General Characteristics
Motile
(cilia)
Eukaryotes
Heterotroph
Taxonomic Breakdown
| Kingdom | Protista |
| Phylum | Ciliophora |
Method of movement
It swims rapidly by coordinated wavelike beats of its many cilia. A paramecium normally moves forward in a corkscrew fashion but is capable of reversing direction when it encounters undesirable conditions.
Reproduction
The larger nucleus is thought to regulate cell functions, while the smaller nucleus is involved in reproduction. Ciliates usually reproduce asexually by binary fission. Sometimes they reproduce sexually. This takes place when two individual ciliates join together at the oral grooves and exchange portions of the micronuclei. After this stage each individual divides.
Nutrition
At one side of the ciliates body there is a mouth like opening called the oral groove. The food is swept into the oral groove by the cilia. Food consists of other protozoans, bacteria and algae.
Excretion
Undigested food is discarded through the anal pore (which is some distance behind the oral groove). Metabolic wastes diffuse out directly at the body surface.
Respiration
Respiration
of Ciliates can be anaerobic (occurring without oxygen) or aerobic (requiring
oxygen). Anaerobic protozoa must live without oxygen and will die
if exposed to it. Respiration rate varies directly with temperature
and also depends on the kind of molecules broken down for energy.
It also varies with species.
Defense
In many ciliates there is a layer of many tiny carrot shaped bodies, called Trichocysts, underneath the pellicle. When discharged each Trichocysts forms a long sticky thread. Usually they are discharged as a means of defense but are sometimes used as an anchor.
Examples of Ciliates
Paramecuim (Paramecium caudatum)
Stentor (Stentor coeruleus)
To
see images of Ciliates click here.
General Characteristics
Not
Motile
Hetertrophic
Eukaryote
Taxonomic Breakdown
| Kingdom | Protista |
| Phylum | Sporozoa |
Method of Movement
Sporozoans have
no physical form of movement. However, they can be moved by the currents
of the blood or other fliuds of their hosts.
Reproduction
They reproduce sexually in one host and then asexually in a second host.
Nutrition
They are parasites. Sporozoans have special organelles that allow it to invade a host cell.
Defense
The Plasmodium vivax(Sporozoan) tucks inside the red blood cells, where the parasites are protected from attack by the antibodies of the host. Even when they leave to invade fresh cells, they evade immune destruction by constantly changing their antigens [any of several subsatnces that cause the development of antibodies].
Examples of Sporozoans
Plasmodium vivax (Causes
Malaria)
Monocystis agilis
To
see images of Sporozoans, click here
General Characteristics
Motile
Unicellular
Heterotroph
Eukaryote
Taxonomic Breakdown
| Kingdom | Protista |
| Phylum | Mastigophora |
Method of movement
They move with the use of Flagella an example is a Trypanosome
Nutrition
They get their nutrients by eating other organisms or by absorbing food molecules through cell membranes.
Defense
Members of the Trypanosoma Genus releases a poisonous substance that attacks the nervous system, causing weakness and eventually death ( African Sleeping Sickness).
Excretion
Undigested wastes leave trough the anal pore. Contractile vacuoles are used in pumping water out of the cell.
Economic Importance
Flagellates are the primary component
in the marine food chain
Examples of Flagellates
Trypanosoma gambiense (sleeping
sickness)
Trichonympha
To
see images of Flagellates, click here.
* Sporozoa are the only animal like protist that had no form of movement.
* The plasmodium (Sporozoan) causes malaria.
* Sporozoa need both a human or other vertebrate and a mosquito to complete their life cycle.
* Phylum Sarcodina (Rhizopods) are the largest phylum of protozoans. There are about 18,000 known species of Rhizopods.
* Some Amoebas (Rhizopods) are harmless, while others cause serious disease (Entamoeba histolytica)
* Amoebas are constantly changing their shape.
* Some amoebas are as small as 0.25mm in length while others can be up to 8mm.
* Pseudopods may be rounded at the tip (lobopodia), pointed (filopodia), branched and fused together (rhizopodia) or somewhat rigid and pointed (axopodia)
* Paramecia can divide as often
as two or three times a day.
* Ciliates have a skeleton like covering made of Polysaccharides.
Test
your knowledge of Protozoans Click Here
Links
http://silkentent.com/gus1911/RonPond.htm
http://kids.infoplease.lycos.com/encyclopedia.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/27819/cgi-bin/quiz.cgi?quiz=7_8
http://home.istar.ca/~smhaley