CHAPTER 15: Protists
15.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF PROTISTS
- Protist Image Data
- Take a look at the pictures of protozoa and algae at this
University of Montreal site to appreciate the wide variety of
organisms in Kingdom Protista. Click on the photos of each protist
for a detailed description of its classification, life cycle,
and appearance.
- New York Hall of Science Super Microscope
- Interact with an online microscope to view images of diatoms, didinium, and paramecium. You will need to the Shockwave® Plug-in to play this game.
- Systematics of the Eukaryota
- This page shows the relationships among the four eukaryote kingdoms—protists, fungi, plants, and animals. You will also see that the protist groupings in your book—plant-like, animal-like, and fungus-like—don't necessarily group close relatives. Learn more about the life history and morphology of the eukaryotes at this University of California Museum of Paleontology page.
15.2 ANIMAL-LIKE PROTISTS—PROTOZOANS
- Systematics of the Eukaryota
- Yes, you've seen this page before, but it is mentioned again
because it links to pages specific to certain protozoa, including:
- Foraminifera
- Basal Eukaryotes: Includes amebas
- Ciliata (Ciliophora): Includes paramecia
- Apicomplexa: Includes Plasmodium
- Micscape Article: Paramecium
- Paramecium is a small, single-celled organism that is plentiful in freshwater ponds. This article describes the structure, movement, and study of Paramecium.
15.3 PLANTLIKE PROTISTS--ALGAE
- Dinoflagellates
- Do you want to be a paleopalynologist? If you like studying
microscopic fossils, this might be the field for you. Learn more
about modern dinoflagellates from this University of Calgary
site.
- Microbial Zoo: WaterWorld
- Find brief descriptions of the algae living in ponds here,
including spirogyra, star filament algae, diatoms, and mummy-shaped
diatoms.
- Systematics of the Eukaryota
- Before you assume all the plantlike protists are closely
related, take a look at the cladogram on this page. Click on
the photos to learn more about the photosynthetic protists, including:
- Chromista: Brown algae and diatoms
- Rhodophyta: Red Algae
- Green Algae: Green....hey!
- Dinoflagellata: Includes red tide-causing organisms
- Basal
Eukaryotes: Includes euglenoids
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15.4 FUNGUSLIKE PROTISTS--MOLDS
- The Slime Molds
- Were slime molds the real-life inspiration for "The Blob"? Who knows,
but these slimy protists are still fascinating in their own oozing
way. Read more about plasmodial and cellular slime molds, as
well as slime nets, at these pages from the University of California
Museum of Paleontology.
- Myxo Web
- Everything you wanted to know about plasmodial slime mold—the
yellow blob featured in your chapter opener. This page was created
in conjunction with faculty from Fairmont State College in West
Virginia.
15.5 PROTISTS IN THE BIOSPHERE
- Rotarians Against Malaria
- This succinct account of malaria from Rotary International
gives basic facts about Malaria.
- Gene Creates Malaria Drug Resistance
- This "old" news article describes the discovery
of the gene that permits Plasmodium falciparum to resist
the drugs made to destroy it.
- The Harmful Algae Page
- Learn more about red tides and other harmful algal blooms
from the premier American marine biology lab, the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution. Find out which species are harmful,
where they are found, and how they can affect the health of sea
life and terrestrial life, including yours.
- About Red Tide
- This page starts with a gripping account of a red tide so
massive, it produced gas that choked humans on shore. It is located
at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida.
- Infectious Diseases
- This site from the World Health Organization provides information about parasitic protists and other infectious agents. Just look at some of these diseases:
- Leishmaniasis
- Malaria
- African Trypanosomiasis (Sleeping Sickness)
- Chagas disease (American Trypanosomiasis)
- Kelp Forest
- This exhibit comes from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
- Kelp Cam
- Also from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, this window offers live
shots of a kelp forest and the fish that swim among its blades.
- Crop Diseases and Pests
- The first story of this online U.S. Department of Agriculture
newsletter describes a new genotype of late blight, the Phytophthora
infection that caused the Irish potato famine. This hardier phytophthora
is resistant to conventional fungicide treatment and is a disaster
for U.S. potato farmers.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- As the United States' first line of defense against disease, the CDC has one of the best sites for learning about infectious disease caused by viruses, bacteria, or protists. Search their health information files and their statistics site for information about a particular disease.
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