Unit 1: What is Biology?

Unit 2: Ecology
Unit 3: The Life of a Cell
Unit 4: Genetics
Unit 5: Change Through Time
Unit 6: Viruses, Bacteria, Protists, and Fungi
Unit 7: Plants
Unit 8: Invertebrates
Unit 9: Vertebrates
Unit 10: The Human Body
Unit 1: What is Biology?
Chapter 1: Biology: The Study of Life
Unit 2: Ecology
Chapter 2: Principles of Ecology
Chapter 3: Communities and Biomes
Chapter 4: Population Biology
Chapter 5: Biological Diversity and Conservation
Unit 3: The Life of a Cell
Chapter 6: The Chemistry of Life
Chapter 7: A View of the Cell
Chapter 8: Cellular Transport and the Cell Cycle
Chapter 9: Energy in a Cell
Unit 4: Genetics
Chapter 10: Mendel and Meiosis
Chapter 11: DNA and Genes
Chapter 12: Patterns of Heredity and Human Genetics
Chapter 13: Genetic Technology
Unit 5: Change Through Time
Chapter 14: The History of Life
Chapter 15: The Theory of Evolution
Chapter 16: Primate Evolution
Chapter 17: Organizing Life’s Diversity
Unit 6: Viruses, Bacteria, Protists, and Fungi
Chapter 18: Viruses and Bacteria
Chapter 19: Protists
Chapter 20: Fungi
Unit 7: Plants
Chapter 21: What Is a Plant?
Chapter 22: The Diversity of Plants
Chapter 23: Plant Structure and Function
Chapter 24: Reproduction in Plants
Unit 8: Invertebrates
Chapter 25: What Is an Animal?
Chapter 26: Sponges, Cnidarians, Flatworms, and
Roundworms
Chapter 27: Mollusks and Segmented Worms
Chapter 28: Arthropods
Chapter 29: Echinoderms and Invertebrate
Chordates
Unit 9: Vertebrates
Chapter 30: Fishes and Amphibians
Chapter 31: Reptiles and Birds
Chapter 32: Mammals
Chapter 33: Animal Behavior
Unit 10: The Human Body
Chapter 34: Protection, Support, and Locomotion
Chapter 35: The Digestive and Endocrine Systems
Chapter 36: The Nervous System
Chapter 37: Respiration, Circulation, and Excretion
Chapter 38: Reproduction and Development
Chapter 39: Immunity from Disease
Viruses, Bacteria, Protists, and
Fungi
Viruses and
Bacteria
Protists

Fungi
Chapter 19 Protists
19.1: The World of Protists
19.1: Section Check
19.2: Algae: Plantlike Protists
19.2: Section Check
19.3: Slime Molds, Water Molds, and Downy Mildews
19.3: Section Check
Chapter 19 Summary
Chapter 19 Assessment
What You’ll Learn
You will differentiate among
the major groups of protists.
You will recognize the ecological
niches of protists.
You will identify some human
diseases and the protists
responsible for them.
Section Objectives:
• Identify the characteristics of Kingdom
Protista.

• Compare and contrast the four groups of

protozoans.
What is a protist?
• Kingdom Protista contains the most
diverse organisms of all the kingdoms.
• Protists may be unicellular or
multicellular, microscopic or very large,
and heterotrophic or autotrophic.
What is a protist?
• The characteristic that all protists
share is that, unlike bacteria, they are
all eukaryotes, which means that
most of their metabolic processes
occur inside their membrane-bound
organelles.
What is a protist?
• Although there are no typical protists,
some resemble animals in the way they
get food.
• The animal-like protists
are called protozoa
(singular, protozoan).
What is a protist?

• Unlike animals,
though, all
protozoans are
unicellular.
What is a protist?
• Other protists are plantlike autotrophs,
using photosynthesis to make their food.

• Plantlike protists
are called algae
(singular, alga).
What is a protist?

• Unlike plants,
algae do not
have organs
such as roots,
stems, and
leaves.
What is a protist?
• Still other protists
are more like fungi
because they
decompose dead
organisms.

• However, unlike fungi, funguslike protists

are able to move at some point in their
life and do not have chitin in their cell
walls.
What is a protist?
• Some protists cause diseases, such as
malaria and sleeping sickness, that
result in millions of human deaths
throughout the world every year.

• Unicellular algae produce much of the

oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere and are
the basis of aquatic food chains.
What is a protist?
• Slime molds and water molds
decompose a significant amount of
organic material, making the nutrients
available to living organisms.
What is a protozoan?
• Although a diverse group, all
protozoans are unicellular heterotrophs
that feed on other organisms or dead
organic matter.

• They usually reproduce asexually, but

some also reproduce sexually.
Diversity of Protozoans
• Many protozoans are grouped according
to the way they move.
• Some protozoans use cilia or flagella to
move.
• Others move and feed by sending out
cytoplasm-containing extensions of their
plasma membranes.
• These extensions are called
pseudopodia
Diversity of Protozoans
• There are four main groups of
protozoans: the amoebas the
flagellates, the ciliates, and the
sporozoans.
Amoebas: Shapeless protists
• Amoebas have no cell wall and form
pseudopodia to move and feed.
Amoebas: Shapeless protists
• As a pseudopod forms, the shape of the
cell changes and the amoeba moves.
Amoebas form pseudopodia around their
food.
Amoebas: Shapeless protists
• Although most amoebas live in
saltwater, there are freshwater ones
that live in the ooze of ponds, in wet
patches of moss, and even in moist
soil.
• Because freshwater amoebas live in
hyoptonic environments, they constantly
take in water.
• Their contractile vacuoles collect
and pump out excess water.
Amoebas: Shapeless protists
• Two groupings of mostly marine
amoebas, the foraminiferan and
radiolarian have shells.
Amoebas: Shapeless protists
• Foraminiferans, which are abundant on the
sea floor, have hard shells made of
calcium carbonate.
Amoebas: Shapeless protists

• Radiolarians have
shells made of silica.

• In addition, radiolarians are an

important part of marine plankton— an
assortment of microscopic organisms
that float in the ocean’s photic zone
and form the base of marine food
chains.
Amoebas: Shapeless protists
• Most amoebas commonly reproduce
by asexual reproduction, in which a
single parent produces one or more
identical offspring by dividing into two
cells.
• When environmental conditions
become unfavorable, some types of
amoebas form cysts that can survive
extreme conditions.
Flagellates: Protozoans with flagella
• The phylum Zoomastigina consists of
protists called flagellates, which have
one or more flagella.

• Flagellated
protists move by
whipping their
flagella from
side to side.
Flagellates: Protozoans with flagella

• Some flagellates are parasites that

cause diseases in animals, such as
African sleeping sickness in humans.

• Other flagellates are helpful.

Ciliates: Protozoans with cilia Anal
pore
Cilia
• The roughly 8000 members
of the protist phylum
Ciliophora, known as
Oral
ciliates, use the cilia that groove
cover their bodies to move. Gullet

• Ciliates live in every kind of

aquatic habitat— from ponds Contractile
vacuole
and streams to oceans and
sulfur springs. Micronucleus and
macronucleus
A Paramecium Cilia Anal
pore

• Within a
paramecium Oral
groove
are many
organelles and Gullet Contractile
structures that vacuole
are each Micronucleus and
adapted to macronucleus
carry out a
distinct
function.
A Paramecium
• A paramecium usually reproduces
asexually by dividing crosswise and
separating into two daughter cells.

• Whenever their food supplies dwindle or

their environmental conditions change,
paramecia usually undergo a form of
conjugation.
A Paramecium
• In this complex process, two paramecia
join and exchange genetic material.

• Then they separate, and each divides

asexually, passing on its new genetic
composition.
Sporozoans: Parasitic protozoans
• Protists in the phylum
Sporozoa are often called
sporozoans because most
produce spores.
• A spore is a
reproductive cell that
forms without
fertilization and
produces a new Sporozoans
organism.
Sporozoans: Parasitic protozoans
• All sporozoans are parasites.
• They live as internal parasites in one or
more hosts and have complex life
cycles.
• , members of the
sporozoan genus, are organisms that
cause the disease malaria in humans
and other mammals and in birds.
Sporozoans and malaria
• Throughout the world today, more than
300 million people have malaria, a
serious disease that usually occurs in
places that have tropical climates.
• The that mosquitoes
transmit to people cause human
malaria.
• The malaria-causing live in
both humans and mosquitoes.
Sporozoans and malaria

• The life cycle of

Plasmodium involves
two hosts—
mosquitoes and
humans.
Sporozoans and malaria
Section Objectives
• Compare and contrast the variety of
plantlike protists.

• Explain the process of alternation of

generations in algae.
What are algae?
• Photosynthesizing protists are called
algae.
• All algae contain up to four kinds of
chlorophyll as well as other
photosynthetic pigments.
What are algae?
• These pigments produce a variety of colors in
algae, including purple, rusty-red, olive-brown,
yellow, and golden-brown, and are a
way of classifying algae into groups.
What are algae?
• Algae include both unicellular and
multicellular organisms.

• The photosynthesizing unicellular protists,

known as phytoplankton (fi toh
PLANK tun), are so numerous that they
are one of the major producers of nutrients
and oxygen in aquatic ecosystems in the
world.
What are algae?
• Through photosynthesis, algae
produce much of the oxygen used
on Earth.
Diversity of Algae
• Algae are classified into six phyla.
• Three of these phyla— the
euglenoids, diatoms, and
dinoflagellates— include only
unicellular species.
• In the other three phyla, which are
the green, red, and brown
algae, most species are
multicellular.
Euglenoids: Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
• Eugelnoids are
unicellular, aquatic
protists that have
both plant and
animal
characteristics.
• Unlike plant cells,
they lack a cell wall
made of
cellulose.
Euglenoids: Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
• However, they do
have a flexible
pellicle
made of protein
that
surrounds the cell
membrane.
Euglenoids: Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
• Eugelnoids are plantlike in that most have
chlorophyll and photosynthesize.

• However, they are also animal-like

because, when light is not available, they
can ingest food in ways that might
remind you of some protozoans.
Euglenoids: Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
• Eugelnoids might also remind you of
protozoans because they
have one or more flagella to
move.
• They use their

flagella to move
toward light or
food.
Diatoms: The golden algae
• Diatoms (DI uh
tahmz),
members of the
phylum
Bacillariophyta,
are unicellular

photosynthetic

organisms with
shells composed
Diatoms: The golden algae

• Each species has its own unique

shape, decorated with grooves
and pores.
Diatoms: The golden algae

• Diatoms contain chlorophyll as well

as other pigments called
carotenoids (ke RUH tuhn oydz)
that usually give them a
golden-yellow color.
• The food that diatoms make is stored
as oils rather than starch.
Diatoms: The golden algae

• These oils give fishes that feed on

diatoms an oily taste.

• They also give diatoms buoyancy so that they

float near the surface where light is available.
Diatoms: The golden algae

Mitosi
s

Wall formation
around cell
Asexual reproduction Meiosis

Sexual reproduction
Zygote
Gametes
Fusion of Sperm
gametes released
Diatoms: The golden algae

Mitosis

Wall formation
around cell

Asexual reproduction
Meiosis

Sexual reproduction
Zygote
Gametes
Fusion of Sperm
gametes released
Diatoms: The golden algae
• When diatoms die, their shells sink to the
ocean floor.
Diatoms: The golden
algae
• The deposits of diatom
shells— some of
which are millions
of years old—
are
dredged or mined, processed, and used
as abrasives in tooth and
metal polishes, or added to paint to
give the sparkle that makes pavement
lines more visible at night.
Dinoflagellates: The spinning algae
• Dinoflagellates (di nuh FLA juh layts),
members of the phylum Dinoflagellata,
have cell walls that are composed of
thick cellulose plates.
• Dinoflagellates contain chlorophyll,
carotenoids, and red
pigments.
• They have two flagella located in
grooves at right angles to each other.
Dinoflagellates: The spinning algae
• The cell spins slowly as the flagella
beat.
• A few species of
dinoflagellates live in
freshwater, but most are
marine and, like diatoms,
are a major
component of
Dinoflagellatesphytoplankton.
Dinoflagellates: The spinning algae
• Many species live
symbiotically with jellyfishes,
mollusks, and corals.

• Some free-living species

are bioluminescent,
which means that they
emit light.
Dinoflagellates
Dinoflagellates: The spinning algae
• Several species of dinoflagellates
produce toxins.
• One toxin-producing dinoflagellate,
, that
some North Carolina
researchers discovered in
1988, has caused a number of fish
kills in the coastal waters from
Delaware to North Carolina.
Dinoflagellates: The spinning algae
• Another toxic species,
, produces an extremely strong
nerve toxin that can be lethal.
• In the summer, these organisms may
become so numerous that the
ocean takes on a reddish color.
• This population explosion is called a
red tide.
Dinoflagellates: The spinning algae

• The toxins produced

during a red tide may
make humans ill.

Red tide
Red algae
• Red algae, members of the phylum
Rhodophyta, are mostly multicellular
marine seaweeds.
Red algae
• The body of a seaweed, as well as that
of some plants and other
organisms, is called a thallus and lacks
roots, stems, or leaves.
• Red algae use

structures called
holdfasts to
attach to rocks.
Red algae
• In addition to chlorophyll, red algae also
contain photosynthetic pigments called
phycobilins.
• These pigments absorb green, violet, and
blue light— the only part of the
light spectrum that
penetrates water below depths of 100
m. Therefore, the red algae can live in
deep water where most other seaweeds
cannot thrive.
Brown algae
• Almost all of these species live in salt water
along rocky coasts in cool areas of the
world.
Brown algae
• Brown algae contain chlorophyll as well as
a yellowish-brown carotenoid called
fucoxanthin, which gives them their brown
color. • Many species of
brown algae have
air bladders that
keep their bodies
floating near the
surface, where light is
available.
Brown algae
• The largest and
most complex
of brown algae
are kelp.
• In kelp, the thallus is
divided into the
holdfast, stipe, and
blade.
Brown algae
• In some parts of the world such as off
the California coast, giant kelps
form dense, underwater forests.
• These kelp forests are rich
ecosystems and provide a
wide variety of
marine organisms
with their habitats.
Green algae
• The green algae are the most diverse
algae, with more than 7000
species.
• The major pigment in green algae is
chlorophyll, but some species
also have yellow pigments that give
them a yellow- green color.
Green algae
• Most species of green algae live in
freshwater, but some live in the oceans, in
moist soil, on tree trunks, in snow, and even
in the fur of sloths— large,
slow-moving mammals that live in the
tropical rain forest canopy.
Green algae
• Green algae can be unicellular,
colonial, or multicellular in
organization.
• is a unicellular and
flagellated green alga.
Green algae
• is a multicellular species that
forms slender filaments.
• is a green
alga that can form
a colony, a
group of cells
that lives
together in close
association.
Green algae
• Green algae can reproduce both asexually
and sexually.
• can reproduce asexually through
fragmentation.
• During fragmentation, an individual
breaks up into pieces and each piece
grows into a new individual.
Alternation of Generations
Section Objectives:
• Contrast the cellular differences and
life cycles of the two types of slime
molds.
• Discuss the economic importance of
the downy mildews and water molds.
What are funguslike protists?
• Certain groups of protists, the slime
molds, the water molds, and the
downy mildews, consist of
organisms with some funguslike
features.
• Like fungi, the funguslike protists
decompose organic materials.
What are funguslike protists?
• There are three phyla of funguslike protists.
• Two of these phyla consist of slime
molds.
• Slime molds have characteristics of both
protozoans and fungi and are classified
by the way they reproduce.
What are funguslike protists?
• Water molds and downy mildews make
up the third phylum of funguslike protists.

• Some disease-causing species

damage vital crops.
Slime Molds
• Many slime molds are beautifully colored,
ranging from brilliant yellow or orange to
rich blue, violet, and jet black.
Slime Molds
• They live in cool, moist, shady places where
they grow on damp, organic matter, such as
rotting leaves or decaying tree stumps and
logs.
• There are two major types of slime molds—
plasmodial slime molds and cellular slime
molds.
Slime Molds
• Slime molds are animal-like during much
of their life cycle, moving about and
engulfing food in a way similar to that of
amoebas.
• However, like fungi, slime molds make
spores to reproduce.
Plasmodial slime molds
• Plasmodial slime molds get their name
from the fact that they form a
plasmodium (plaz MOH dee um), a
mass of cytoplasm that contains many
diploid nuclei but no cell walls or
membranes.
• This slimy, multinucleate mass, is the
feeding stage of the organism.
Plasmodial slime molds
• The plasmodium creeps like an amoeba
over the surfaces of decaying logs or
leaves.
• Some quicker plasmodiums move at the
rate of about 2.5 centimeters per hour,
engulfing microscopic organisms and
digesting them in food vacuoles.
• A plasmodium may reach more than a
meter in diameter and contain thousands
of nuclei.
Plasmodial slime molds
Cellular slime molds
• Unlike plasmodial slime molds, cellular
slime molds spend part of their life cycle
as an independent amoeboid cell that
feeds, grows, and divides by cell division.
Cellular slime molds
Water Molds and Downy Mildews
• Most members of this large and diverse
group of funguslike protists live in water or
moist places.
Water Molds and Downy Mildews

• Some feed on
dead organisms
and others are
plant parasites.

• Most water molds appear as fuzzy,

white growths on decaying matter.
Water Molds and Downy Mildews
• They grow as a mass of threads
over a food source, digest it, and
then absorb the nutrients.
• But at some point in their life cycle,
water molds produce flagellated
reproductive cells— something that
fungi never do. This is why water
molds are classified as protists
rather than fungi.
Water Molds and Downy Mildews
• A downy mildew called
affected the
lives of the people of Ireland by
destroying their major food crop of
potatoes.
• The famine that followed caused a
mass immigration to America.
Origin of
Protists
Origin of Protists
• Because of evidence from comparative
RNA sequences in modern green algae
and plants, many biologists agree that
ancient green algae were probably
ancestral to modern plants.
The World of Protists
• Kingdom Protista is a diverse group of living
things that contains animal-like, plantlike, and
funguslike organisms.
• Some protists are heterotrophs, some are
autotrophs, and some get their nutrients by
decomposing organic matter.
The World of Protists
• Amoebas move by extending
pseudopodia. The flagellates use one or
more flagella to move. The beating of cilia
produces cilliate movement. Sporozoans
live as parasites and produce spores.
Algae: Plantlike Protists
• Algae are unicellular and multicellular
photosynthetic autotrophs. Unicellular
species include the euglenoids, diatoms,
dinoflagellates, and some green algae.
Multicellular species include red, brown, and
green algae.
• Green, red, and brown algae, often called
seaweeds, have complex life cycles that
alternate between haploid and diploid
generations.
Slime Molds, Water Molds, and Downy Mildews

• Slime molds, water molds, and downy

mildews are funguslike protists that
decompose organic material to obtain
nutrients.
• Plasmodial and cellular slime molds
change in appearance and behavior before
producing reproductive structures.
 Photo Credits

• Harris Biological Supplies

• NOAA
• National Park Service
• Ward's Natural Science Establishment
• Macmillan Science Company, Inc.
• Corbis
• Peter Franks, Scripps Inst.
• Ruth Bogart
• Alton Biggs