1. Eukaryotic
Mixed: some have cell walls, some do not.
Mostly Single-celled/ some can be multicellular
Autotrophic: photosynthetic/Heterotrophic (some are parasitic)
Broken down into animal like protists, plant like protists and fungal like protists.

2. Types of Protists A. Animal-like Protists
1. Flagellates with long flagella e.g., Euglena
2. Amoeboids with transient pseudopodia e.g., Amoeba
3. Ciliates with multiple, short cilia e.g., Paramecium
4. Sporozoa non-motile parasites; some can
form spores e.g., Toxoplasma

3. Amoebas Phylum Rhizopoda:: Genus Amoeba E. Special Features
A. General Characteristics
a. Have no definite shape
b. Free-living
c. Live in rivers, lakes and streams
d. Feed on decaying matter
B. Movement:
a. Pseudopodia: “false-feet” Extensions of cytoplasm. It will
extend a pseudopod, anchor itself, then the cytoplasm will
flow into the Pseudopod with the rest of the amoeba
following
C. Food
a. Phagocytosis: First surrounds food with Pseudopods, then it
becomes a food vacuole and enzymes will break it down.
D. Reproduction
a. Asexual; binary fission, genetically the same.
E. Special Features
a. Contractile vacuole: gets rid of excess water. They are hypertonic and
needs something to take the water out in order for them to maintain
homeostasis.

4. Paramecium aurelia, a ciliate
Phylum Ciliophora: genus Paramecium
A. General Characteristics
a. Use short hairlike structures called Cilia for movement
b. Unicellular, heterotrophic
c. Found in freshwater, but tend to be drawn to acidic conditions
B. Food
a. Feed on bacteria and other protists
b. Oral Groove: lined with cilia. These cilia create water currents
that collect and move the food down the oral groove and into the
gullet where a food vacuole is formed. The food is digested in
the food vacuole.
C. Excretion
a. Anal Pore: Waste materials are emptied
b. Contractile vacuole: gets rid of excess
water.
D. Other structures
a. Pellicle: hard membrane on the
outer surface that gives it shape.
b. Macronucleus: controls respiration, Protein
synthesis, digestions, and asexual
reproduction
c. Micronucleus: sexual reproduction
                              
Paramecium aurelia, a ciliate

5. Reproduction:
a. Asexual: binary fission
b. Sexual: Conjugation : creates genetic diversity
1. Two paramecium line up at their oral groove
2. the macronucleus of each paramecium disintegrates
3. each diploid micronucleus goes through meiosis producing 4
haploid micronuclei.
4. 3 of the 4 disintegrates
5. the remaining 1 divides to form 2 genetically identical micronuclei.
6. the paramecium exchange one of the micronuclei: they end up
with one micronuclei that is their own and one that is from the
other paramecium.
7. the two paramecium separate
8. the macronucleus reforms

6. Euglena Phylum Euglenophyta. A. General Characteristics 1. Pellicle
2. Contain flagella; Use this for movement
3. Chloroplasts: converts sunlight into energy
4. Eyespot: light sensitive. Move towards light to make food.
5. Also a heterotroph: can absorb nutrients from surrounding water.
6. Reproduces asexually

7. B. Algae-like Protists (tiger p484): Eukaryotic Autotrophs
* Produce much of the earth’s oxygen.
1. Chlorophytes: green algae, are related to higher plants e.g., Ulva species
2. Rhodophytes: red algae e.g., Caralline species
3. Phaeophytes: brown algae, diatoms, etc. e.g., Macrocystis species
Diatoms

8. Volvox

9. C. Fungus-like Protists (tiger p488)
1. Acrasiomycota: slime molds
2. Plasmodial Slime molds: mass of cytoplasm that looks like oozing slime.
3. Oomycetes: water molds, white rusts, downy mildews.
Downy Mildew: Parasitic on plants
Water Mold

10. Other Protists Zoomastigotes A. Trypanosomes
1. Trypanosoma: African sleeping sickness transmitted by the Tsetse fly. Symptoms include fever, swollen lymph nodes, and invade the brain causing uncontrollable sleeping
2. Leishmania: carried by sand flies, causes disfiguring skin sores and can be fatal

11. Other Protists Con’t Phylum Sporozoa a. Nonmotile
b. Parasitic/heterotrophic
c. Reproduction asexually: spores
d. Ex: Malaria; Plasmodium
1. caused by bite of Anopheles mosquito
2. the infected mosquito bites a human and injects spores from the
parasite into the humans bloodstream.
3. The plasmodium infects the liver and red blood cells
4. The plasmodium grows fast in the cells and eventually causes
them to burst (48-72 hours)
5. Mosquitoes get infected from biting infected humans. The
infected blood quickly takes over the mosquitoes body, infecting
the salivary gland of the mosquito.
6. Symptoms: Flu like, fever, chills. May be fatal.
7. Malaria causes about 350–500 million infections in humans and
approximately one to three million deaths annually. This represents at
least one death every 30 seconds. The vast majority of cases occur in
children under the age of 5 years; pregnant women are also especially
venerable.

13. Areas of the world where malaria is endemic (colored blue).
Anopheles albimanus mosquito feeding on a human arm. This mosquito is a vector of malaria.
Pictures of Plasmodium in Red blood cells.