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Protist Presentation
Protist Presentation
Protist Presentation
Presentation
Kingdom Protista
Nadim Mitri
Jenny Elia
Reem Taleb
Bayan Sabbagh
General Characteristics
Protists are very diverse and have few
traits in common
Most are single-celled organisms, but
some are many cells, and others live in
colonies.
Some produce own food, others eat other
organisms or decaying matter
Some can control own movement,
others cannot.
Characteristics that protists DO share:
Eukaryotic (have a nucleus), but are less
complex than other eukaryotic organisms
Do not have specialized tissues
different shapes
Most scientists
mold
ulva
plants, and animals
evolved from early
protists
Paramecium
Protists and Food:
Protists can get food many ways:
Can make own food
Can eat other organisms
Can eat parts or products of other organisms
Can eat leftovers of other organisms
Some use more than one way to get food
Some produce food—they use chloroplasts
to produce food through
photosynthesis
Finding Food:
Heterotroph:organism that cannot
make own food
Some are decomposers—they get
energy by breaking down dead
organic matter
Asexual Reproduction:
Most protists
reproduce asexually
Offspring come from
just one parent
Binary fission: a
single-celled protist
divides into two cells
Each new cell is a
single-celled
protist
Sexual Reproduction:
Requires two
parents
Paramecium
sometimes
reproduce sexually
by a process called
conjugation
Kinds of Protists:
Algae:
All algae have the
green pigment
chlorophyll, which is
used to make food
through photosynthesis
Almost all algae live in
water
Free-floating, single-
celled algae are called
phytoplankton, which
produce much of the
world’s oxygen.
Amoebas:
Soft, jellylike
protozoans
Found in fresh and salt
water, soil, and in
parasites
Move with
pseudopodia, which
means “false feet”
Ciliates:
Have hundreds of cilia—
tiny, hairlike structures
Cilia move the protist
forward by beating back
and forth—sometimes up
to 60 times a second!
Cilia are also used for
feeding —they move the
food towards the protist’s
food
passageway.
Best known of ciliates is
the Paramecium
Spore-Forming Protists:
Many spore-forming protists
are parasites
They absorb nutrients from
their hosts
No cilia or flagella, cannot
move on their own
Have complicated life cycles
that usually includes two or
more hosts
Example: protist that
causes malaria uses both
mosquitoes
and humans as
hosts
Slime Molds:
Heterotrophic and can
only move during certain
periods of life cycle.
Look like thin, colorful
globs of slime.
Use pseudopodia to move
and eat fungi and yeast.
When environmental
conditions are stressful,
slime molds grow
stalks with knobs,
which contain
spores.
Red Algae:
Most of world’s
seaweed is red algae
Most live in tropical
oceans
Usually less than 1 m in
length
Contain chlorophyll, but
have red pigment
Red pigment allows
them to
absorb light that
filters
deep into
ocean.
Brown algae:
Most seaweed in cool
climates are brown
algae
Attach to rocks or form
large floating beds in
ocean waters
Have chlorophyll and
yellow-brown pigment
Many are very large—up
to 60 meters
Green algae:
Most diverse of protist producers
Green because chlorophyll is main pigment
Most live in water or moist soil
Others live in melting snow, on tree trunks, and
inside other organisms.
Diatoms:
Single-celled
Found in salt and fresh water
Get energy from photosynthesis.
Make up a large percentage of phytoplankton
Cell walls contain a glasslike substance called silica.