Phase 3 - Kingdom Protista Information

The Kingdom Protista includes an incredible diversity of different types of organisms, including algae, protozoans, and slime molds. No one even knows how many species there are, though estimates range between 6 ,!!! to "!!,!!!. #ll protists are eukaryotes, comple$ cells with nuclear membranes and organelles like mitochondria and chloroplasts. They can be either unicellular or multicellular, and in this group we find the first inkling of what is to come in evolutionary history, the union of eukaryotic cells into a colonial organism, where various cell types perform certain tasks, communicate with one another, and together function like a multicellular organism. %ome protists are autotrophs, a photosynthetic group of phyla referred to as the algae. #utotrophs manufacture their own energy by photosynthesis or chemosynthesis. #lgae use various combinations of the ma&or chlorophyll pigments, chlorophyll a, b, and c, mi$ed with a wide array of other pigments that give some of them very distinctive colors. %ome protists are heterotrophs, a group of phyla called the protozoa. 'eterotrophs get their energy by consuming other organisms. Protists reproduce ase$ually by binary fission, and a few species are capable of se$ual reproduction. (any have very comple$ life cycles. Protists are so small that they do not need any special organs to e$change gases or e$crete wastes. They rely on simple diffusion, the passive movement of materials from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration, to move gases and waste materials in and out of the cell. )iffusion results from the random motion of molecules *black and white marble analogy+. This is a two, edged sword. They dont need to invest energy in comple$ respiratory or e$cretory tissue. -n the other hand, diffusion only works if you re really small, so most protists are limited to being small single cells. Their small size is also due to the inability of cilia or flagella to provide enough energy to move a large cell through the water. Protists eat by phagocytosis , they engulf their food in their cell membrane, and pinch off a section of membrane to form a hollow space inside the cell. This hollow space, now enclosed by membranes, is called a vacuole. .acuoles are handy little structures. Protists also use them to store water, enzymes, and waste products. Paramecium and many other protists have a comple$ type called a contractile vacuole, which drains the cell of waste products and s/uirts them outside the cell.

Introduction to Kingdom Protista

#ll protists are a/uatic. (any protists can move through the water by means of flagella, or cilia, or pseudopodia *0 false feet+. 1ilia and flagella are tiny movable hairs. (otile cells usually have one or two long flagella, or numerous shorter cilia. The internal structure of cilia and flagella is basically the same. #ll of the characteristics that this group shares are primitive traits, a perilous thing to base any classification on, because convergent evolution may be responsible for these superficial similarities. %o the concept of the Kingdom Protista has been &ustly criticized as a ta$onomic grab bag for a whole bunch of primitive organisms only distantly related to one another. Protists are mainly defined by what they are not , they are not bacteria or fungi, they are not plants or animals. Protists gave rise to all other plants and animals. 2ut where did protists themselves come from3 The earliest protists we can recognize in the fossil record date back to about 4 billion, "!! million years ago. 5e do not know how the various groups of protists are related to one another. 5e assume they arose from certain groups of bacteria, but which groups and when are still investigating. )ifferent phyla of protists are so unlike one another, many probably evolved independently from completely different groups of bacteria. 6ynn (argulis recognizes nearly ! different phyla of protists, or Protoctista, as this kingdom is sometimes called. 5e will take a more conservative approach, and focus on nine important phyla of protists.

Taxonomy Kingdom Protista *Protoctista+ Protozoa 0 heterotrophic protists7 Phylum 1iliophora , *Paramecium, 2lepharisma+ Phylum %arcodina , *#moeba, radiolarians+ Phylum %porozoa , *Plasmodium , malaria+ #lgae 0 autotrophic protists Phylum Phaeophyta , brown algae *8ucus+ Phylum 9hodophyta , red algae *Polysiphonia+ Phylum 1hrysophyta , diatoms Phylum :uglenophyta , *:uglena+ Phylum Pyrrophyta , dinoflagellates *1eratium+

Phylum 1hlorophyta , green algae *%pirogyra, .olvo$, 1hlamydomonas+

Characteristics of Phyla
The protozoa: Phylum 1iliophora *;,!!! sp.,+ 2lepharisma, Paramecium These ciliates move by means of numerous small cilia. They are comple$ little critters, with lots of organelles and specialized structures. (any of them, like Paramecium, even have little to$ic threads or darts that they can discharge to defend themselves. Typical ciliates you may see in lab include Paramecium and 2lepharisma. Phylum %arcodina *over <!! sp.+ , #moeba, radiolaria, foraminifera These ciliates have a most unusual way of getting about. They e$tend part their body in a certain direction, forming a pseudopod or false foot, and then flow into that e$tension *cytoplasmic streaming+. (any forms have a tiny shell made from organic or inorganic material. They eat other protozoans, algae, and even tiny critters like rotifers. #moeba is a typical member of this phylum. (any sarcodines are parasites, such as the species :ntamoeba histolytica, which causes amoebic dysentery. 4! million #mericans are infected at any one time with some form of parasitic amoeba, and up to half of the population in tropical countries. %omewhat more unusual sarcodines are the 8oraminiferans. These forams can have fantastically sculptured shells, with prominent spines. They e$tend cytoplasmic podia out along these spines, which function in feeding and in swimming. 8orams are so abundant in the fossil record, and have such distinctive shapes, that they are widely used by geologists as markers to identify different layers of rock. The famous white cliffs of )over are made up of billions of foraminiferan shells. Phylum %porozoa *<,=!! sp.+ , Plasmodium This last group of protozoans is non,motile, and parasitic. They have very comple$ life cycles, involving intermediate hosts such as the mos/uito. They form small resistant spores, small infective bodies that are passed from one host to the ne$t. Plasmodium, the parasite that causes malaria, is typical of this group. >n more general terms, spores are haploid reproductive cells that can develop directly into adults.

The algae:
Phylum Phaeophyta *4, !! species, fr. ?reek phaios 0 brown+ , 8ucus

This phylum contains the brown algae, %argassum, and the various species of kelp. 2rown algae are the largest protists, and are nearly all marine. Kelp blades can stretch up to 4!! meters long. 2rown algae have thin blades with a central midrib or stipe. 6ike all algae, their blades are thin because they lack the comple$ conductive tissues of green plants *phloem+, and must rely on simple diffusion, though some kelp have phloem,like conducting cells in the midrib. Kelp form the basis of entire ecosystems off the coast of 1alifornia and in other cool waters. >n the %argasso %ea, the #tlantic -cean northeast of the 1aribbean >slands, the brown algae %argassum forms huge floating mats, said in older days to trap entire ships, holding them tight until the crew met a watery grave. Phylum 9hodophyta *fr. ?reek rhodos 0 red, @,!!! sp.+ , Polysiphonia 6ike brown algae, the red algae also contain comple$ forms, mostly marine, with elaborate life cycles. 1hloroplasts in this group show pigments very similar to those found in cyanobacteria, and ancient red algae may have engulfed these cyanobacteria as endosymbionts. 9ed algae have many important commercial applications, such as the agar used for culture plates. >ts cell walls contain carrageenan, a polysaccharide used in the manufacture of ice cream, paint, and cosmetics. Phylum 2acillariophyta *44, !! sp., many more fossil sp., fr. 6atin bacillus 0 little stick+ , diatoms )iatoms have a golden,brown pigment. %ome books still place them with the 1hrysophyta, the golden,brown algae, but they are now recognized as an entirely separate group. )iatoms have odd little shells made of organic compounds impregnated with silica. The shells fit over the top of one another like a little bo$. )iatoms usually reform the lower shell after they divide This means they become smaller and smaller, and when they become too small they leave their shells and fuse through se$ual reproduction into a larger size and start over again. They are one of the most important organisms in both freshwater and marine food chains. )iatoms are so abundant that the photosynthesis of diatoms accounts for a large percentage of the o$ygen added to the atmosphere each year from natural sources. Their dead shells form huge deposits, that are mined for commercial uses. )iatom shells are sold as diatomacious earth, and used in abrasives, talcs, and chalk. )iatoms are so numerous that their shells form thick deposits all over the world. # single /uarry in 6ompoc, 1alifornia, yields over "A!,!!! metric tons per year. -ne bed in the %anta (onica 1a. oil fields is over =!! meters thickB .arious species of diatoms are also widely used as indicator species of clean or polluted water.

Phylum :uglenophyta *;!! sp.+ , :uglena >s it a plant, or is it an animal3 >t moves around like an animal, and sometimes eats particles of food, but a third of them are also photosynthetic, a nice bright green pigment like a green algae *which it used to be called+. This organism may actually have resulted from endosymbiosis, in which an ancestral form engulfed a green algal cell. Phylum Pyrrophyta *<,!!! sp., fr. ?reek dinos 0 whirling, 6atin flagellum 0 whip+ , dinoflagellates, 1eratium )inoflagellates are named after their two flagella, which lie along grooves, one like a belt and one like a tail. (any species have a heavy armor of cellulose plates, often encrusted with silica. This species is very important both ecologically and economically. %ome species form zoo$anthellae, dinoflagellates which have lost their flagella and armor, and live as symbionts in the tissues of mollusks, sea anemones, &ellyfish, and corals. These dinoflagellates are responsible for the enormous productivity of coral reefs. They also limit coral reefs to surviving in shallow waters, where sunlight can reach the dinoflagellates. %ome dinoflagellate species often form algal blooms in coastal waters, building up enormous populations visible from a great distance. The amazingly potent to$ins, that about "! species produce, poison shellfish, fish, and marine mammals, causing the deadly red tide. This is the organism that can make 6ouisiana oysters your last meal on :arthBB -ne outbreak in 4=;A killed half of the entire bottlnose dolphin population in the 5estern #tlantic. Phylum 1hlorophyta *A,!!! sp., fr. ?reek chloros 0 yellow,green+ , .olvo$, %pirogyra, 1hlamydomonas %everal multicellular organisms have arisen from this very diverse group of algae, including the unknown ancestor of all green plants. 6ike higher plants, they7 use chlorophyll a and b for photosynthesisC have cell walls of cellulose and pectinC and store food as starch. There are several colonial forms, such as .olvo$. ?roups of cells unite to form a colonial organism, in which certain groups of cells perform certain tasks. >t is one of the simplest organisms to show a true division of labor, true multicellularity. .olvo$ colonies can contain !!,6!,!!! vegetative cells. The colony has polarity, a head and tail end. >t even has special reproductive cells concentrated at its tail end. The flagella that stick out from its surface cells moves the colony forward by causing it to spin clockwise. .olvo$ crosses a ma&or evolutionary boundary. 5hen .olvo$ reproduces, the new daughter colonies form inside the parent colony. The only way they can be released is for the parent colony to burst open and die. >t is this final act

of sacrifice that tells us an invisible line has been crossed. %ingle celled bacteria and protists are immortal. They can go on dividing in two forever, and so never truly die. 2ut in the Kingdom Protista, we see the beginnings of specialization among groups of cells, specialization which entails the death of certain cells so that other cells can survive. #s .olvo$ reminds us, the price of comple$ multicellularity is death. Protists are so small that they do not need any special organs to e$change gases or e$crete wastes. They rely on simple diffusion, the passive movement of materials from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration, to move gases and waste materials in and out of the cell. Protists eat by phagocytosis , they engulf their food in their cell membrane, and pinch off a section of membrane to form a hollow space inside the cell. This hollow space, now enclosed by membranes, is called a vacuole.

Things to Remember

conomic!

cological! and

"olutionary Importance

#lgae and protozoa are important prey in food chains. :ven humans eat algae. (any protozoans are important disease causing organisms *malaria, to$oplasmoisis, amoebic dysentery+ )inoflagellates cause billions of dollars in damage to the seafood industry, and are important symbionts in corals and other marine animals. #n e$tract of red algae is used to make paint, cosmetics, and ice cream. Protozoans gave rise to all higher forms of animal life. ?reen algae gave rise to all higher plant life. 2acteria first mastered the fine art of photosynthesis. 1yanobacteria established the o$ygen atmosphere we breathe today. 2ut diatoms are mainly responsible for current o$ygen input from photosynthesis.