ZOOL101B PRE-LAB LECTURE: KINGDOM PROTISTA

 BACKGROUND: GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

 Any organism not classified as a - plant, animal, fungus, or bacteria (prokaryote).

 Protists are eukaryotic having a distinct nucleus and organelles.

 Most protists are unicellular (one-celled) but some are multicellular.
 Protists are primarily classified according to how they obtain nutrition:

a) Heterotrophs - Animal like (eat other organisms)

b) Autotrophs - Plant-like
- They contain chloroplasts and make their own food (photosynthesis).
 c) Decomposers/Heterotrophs - Fungus-like

 ANIMAL-LIKE PROTOZOANS
 Method of Movement:

a) Cilia - hair-like projections used for movement and feeding.

b) Cytoplasmic streaming - pseudopod (false foot) extends and cytoplasm streams into
it.

 PARAMECIUM

 AMOEBA
 HARMFUL ANIMAL-LIKE PROTOZOANS
 Disease-causing parasites spread by insect bites:

1. Malaria - Plasmodium spread by mosquito.

2. African Sleeping Sickness - Trypmosoma spread by Tsetse fly.

 BENEFICIAL ANIMAL-LIKE PROTOZOANS

 Recycles nutrients by breaking down dead matter.

 Food source - for other organisms.
 Mutualism - both organisms benefit.
 Example: Trichonympha - makes it possible for termites to eat wood.
Termites do not have the enzymes to digest wood.

 PLANT-LIKE PROTOZOANS
 Method of Movement:
a) Flagellum - whip-like structure used for movement.
b) Euglena:

 UNICELLULAR ALGAE
a) Phytoplankton provides a source of nourishment for other organisms.

b) Protists recycle sewage and waste materials.

 Algal blooms are harmful when overgrown - deplete water of nutrients consequently killing fish. Algal blooms
are called Red Tides cause illness, paralysis and death of fish and even humans.

 MULTICELLULAR ALGAE
 Red Algae
 Green Algae
 Brown Algae

 USES OF ALGAE
 Algae is a good food source for life in the oceans.
 Algae produces much of Earth’s oxygen through photosynthesis.
 Algae is used to make sushi, ice cream, salad dressing, plastics, paint, agar, etc.

 FUNGUS-LIKE PROTOZOANS
 Slime Molds
 Water Molds

 BENEFICIAL FUNGUS-LIKE PROTOZOANS

 Recycles dead organic material. Results in rich, topsoil providing nutrients for plants.

 HARMFUL FUNGUS-LIKE PROTOZOANS

 P. Infestans (Water Mold) cause Great Potato Famine in Ireland. This lead to the mass starvation of 1 million
Irish people.

ZOOL101B PRE-LAB LECTURE 9: PORIFERA

 BACKGROUND:

 L. porus, pore + fera, bearing

 Sponges are without tissues or organs but are multicellular. They depend
on water currents to bring them food and oxygen and to carry away their body waste.
The body wall is perforated with pores, canals, and flagellated chambers forming a
canal system. Skeletons consist of spicules or spongin fibers or both. Spicules are
rayed or with spines and are either calcareous, siliceous, or with spongin fibers. The
consistency of sponges varies from hard to slimy to pliable, rubbery or gelatinous
depending upon the skeletal elements. Reproduction takes either through gametic or
through budding.

ZOOL101B PRE-LAB LECTURE 10: CNIDARIA

 BACKGROUND:
 Cnidarians are the simplest animals with tissues organized for specific functions. To the untrained eye, their
radial symmetry makes cnidarians seem more plant-like than animal-like, and the colonial forms of hydroids
often have a ‘bushy’ appearance that reinforces that mistaken first impression. However, cnidarians are indeed
animals, and a closer examination of their bodies and behaviors will prove it. The generalized body plan of a
cnidarian consists of an oral disc surrounded by a ring (or rings) of long tentacles, atop a column that contains
the 2-way guy or coelenteron. This body plan can occur in either of 2 forms: a polyp, in which the column is
attached to a hard surface with the oral disc and tentacles facing into the water; and medusa, in which the
column is (usually) unattached and the entire organism is surrounded by water. In the medusa phase, the
 column is flattened and generally rounded to form the bell of the pelagic medusa. A unique characteristic of
this group is the presence of stinging cells or nematocysts.
 Characteristic stinging cells (cnidocytes) containing stingers (nematocyst).

ZOOL101B PRE-LAB LECTURE 11: PLATYHELMINTHES

 BACKGROUND:

 platy, flat ; helminth, worm

 The Phylum Platyhelminthes belongs to the acoelomates, which have
bilaterally symmentrical and unsegmented bodies and are flattened dorsoventrally.
 Their digestive tract is incomplete since the alimentary canal is embedded
in the parenchyma of mesodermal cells. It opens through the mouth, with flame
cells or protonephridia for excretion.
 They are hermaphroditic with respiratory and circulatory systems, but with ladder-like nervous system. Free-
living forms are found in fresh and marine waters and damp places.
 Some are ecto- or endoparasites with modified structures and complicated life cycles.