Protozoa By: Rukesh Chinthapatla & Udara Fernando

1. Trypanosoma is a flagellate type of protozoan and causes sleeping sickness ProtozoaBy: Rukesh Chinthapatla & Udara Fernando The amoeba is a very common type of protozoan • Facts about protozoa: • Are protists • Lives mostly as a heterotrophic organism; most eat bacteria or other protozoa, but a few can take in nutrients dissolved in water • Do well in wet environments • Though only a few percentage of protozoa are parasites, they cause some of the most harmful diseases • The four most groups are flagellates, amoebas, apicomplexans, and ciliates A flagellate protozoan. Can you see the flagella?

2. Rhizopoda • Commonly called amoebas • Does not really possess a defined structure although some do live inside a protein shell • Characterized by pseudopodia, or “fake feet” • Pseudopodia are used for movement as well as capturing food; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6rnhiMxtKU • Include various organisms; from amoebas to slime molds • Found in freshwater and marine habitats • Since there is a lot of variety, reproduction is varied; some reproduce by binary fission and some using spores • Rhizopoda can often be classified by the shape and structure of the pseudopods A rhizopod, also known as an amoeba.

3. Both radiolarians and heliozoans are referred to as actinopods, due to slender pseudopodia • Radiolarians • Are amoeboid protozoa • Have detailed skeletons; with inner (endoplasm) and outer (ectoplasm) parts • Skeletons are usually fused into one beautiful piece • Possess many pseudopodia that look like needles • Use their buoyancy in coasting ocean currents to move around • Reproduce both sexually and asexually • Heliozoans • Very similar to radiolarians • Skeleton consists of glassy plates that are not fused • Circular amoeboid with pseudopods around the body (appearing like a sun) • Differ from radiolarians in that their skeleton is not as complex A radiolarian, with many pseudopodia at the bottom Heliozoans have a similar appearance to the sun

4. Amoeba • Common type of protozoa • Doesn’t really possess any definite shape and are very flexible as a result • Uses pseudopodia to move and eat; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pR7TNzJ_pA&feature=related • Live in freshwater and saltwater and can be parasites • Also have endoplasm and ectoplasm Amoebas don’t have a definite structure

5. Paramecium • Are a ciliate protozoa, using cilia for movement and eating • Are oval-like and possess slipper shape • Found in fresh water environments (warm waters) • Are covered in cilia, food travels along cilia into the oral groove • Have two types of nuclei; large macronucleus and then 80 tiny diploid nuclei used in sexual reproduction • Paramecium are unicellular protists capable of both sexual and asexual (binary fission; more common) reproduction • Asexual reproduction occurs when the organism’s macronucleus elongates and splits • The complex sexual mixing of genes in paramecium happens during conjugation, the numerous tiny nuclei undergo meiosis in this process • Paramecium eat microorganisms such as algae, bacteria, and yeast The structure of paramecium

6. Paramecium- Conjugation

7. Foraminiferans • Also have pseudopodia for movement, feeding, and shell formation • Are almost all marine, living in the sand or attached to rocks and algae, or even present in plankton • Named for their porous shells made of calcium carbonate • Very large animals, shells can grow up to 1 inch long Notice the porous skeleton in this foraminifera

8. When the foraminiferans die, the shells drop to the bottom and the calcium carbonate forms calcareous ooze • The calcareous ooze has settled to the bottom of the sea forming much of the sediment found on the ocean floor, forming much of the sedimentary rocks in the earth. • Foraminiferans leave fossils that can be used to correlate the ages of sedimentary rocks! • Study of fossil foraminiferans has been extremely important in recognizing geological strata and for dating deposits • The oil industry relies heavily on these microfossils to find potential oil deposits Foraminiferans A foraminifera fossil, which are very useful and important in dating sedimentary rocks