Characteristics

• Mostly unicellular with a nucleus. Some multicellular algae.

• May be producer, consumer, decomposer

• 3 types ( fungus like, plant like, animal like)

Fungus Like

•slime molds: can be uni-or multicellular, eat bacteria, yeast and decaying matter, form spores to reproduce.   •ex. water molds: can be decomposers or parasites of plants or animals caused the potato famine.  

Plant Like Algae

• Produce most of the oxygen on earth

• Important part of the food web

• Food for animal like protists and others.

Green Algae

some are microscopic and make up plankton that lives in ocean. - some are seaweed

Brown Algae• still has chlorophyll - ex. rockweed, has

holdfasts that act like roots to hold it to rocks. - mostly in colder waters

Red Algae

• red color allows it to absorb a part of the sunlight that can penetrate deep into the ocean. - some make substances called agar, for use by scientists, and in food. - mostly in warmer waters

Golden Algae• - ex. Diatoms: are glass-like • -when they die they form diatomaceous earth and that

is used in toothpaste and scouring powder. • - also used in paint to help it reflect light for road

stripes.

Fire Algae• - also called dinoflagellates, they have 2

flagella • - some cause "red tide", where they produce

toxins that get in shellfish and make people sick.

• - some have bioluminescence "having living light" and glow in the water

Euglenoids

• - single cell that is plant and animal like: has chlorophyll, but also has a flagella for moving.

Pair/ Share• With your elbow partner, discuss 2 reasons

plant like protists are helpful.• Then give 2 reasons they can be harmful.• What was the most interesting thing you

learned about plant like protists.

Animal Like Protists or Protozoans

• Are consumers

• Important part of the food web

• Grouped according to how they move.

Amoeba• - have pseudopods or "false feet" that

surround food, then vacuoles release enzymes to digest it.

• - contractile vacuole pumps out water • - O2 and CO2 go in and out of membrane • - reproduce by binary fission

Ciliates

• - Ex. paramecium• - covered with small hairs called cilia that help

it move and push food toward its oral groove (mouth).

Flagellates• ex. Giardia lamblia • - use flagella, a whip like structure to move • - can live in water and get in digestive tracts of

vertebrates and cause severe stomach upset.

Sporozoans• ex. Plasmodium, carries malaria through mosquitoes • - are parasites and live off other organisms • - do not move or eat on own • - reproduce by spores • - if an infected mosquito bites you, it will release sporozoans

that go into your liver, form spores that invade the red blood cells and destroy them. If a mosquito then bites you, it becomes a carrier

Looking Further• With your microscope partner, draw and label

the following Protists:• 1. Diatom• 2. Green algae• 3. Amoeba• 4. Paramecium• 5. Prepare a drop of pond water and identify

and draw at least 5 types of plankton.