Diversity of Life

The Eukaryotes: Protozoa, Algae, Fungi

• What are they?

• What good are they?

• Gallery

1. The Protozoa
   1. Single-celled, often very complex
   2. No cell wall, no chloroplasts
   3. Typically, they ingest their food
   4. Nutrition: heterotrophic
   5. Reproduction: Asexual or sexual (conjugation)
   6. Most are motile (cilia, flagella, pseudopods)
   7. Examples of protozoa
      • Flagellates: Giardia (Beaver fever) & Trypanosoma (Sleeping sickness)
      • Ciliates: Paramecium; Vorticella
      • Amoebas, Heliozoa and Forams  (White cliffs of Dover)
      • Apicomplexa: Plasmodium (Malaria)
2. The Algae
   1. Single-celled or multi-celled
   2. Cell walls (cellulose) and chloroplasts are present
   3. Nutrition: Phototrophic
   4. They typically absorb their nutrients
   5. Reproduction: sexual or asexual
   6. Many are motile by means of flagella
   7. Examples / Uses of algae
      • Diatoms (toothpaste)
      • Dinoflagellates (Red tide)
      • Seaweeds & Kelps (agar, ice cream, sushi)
      • Green algae: Volvox & Euglena (plant ancestors?)
3. The Fungi
   1. Most are filamentous: Hyphae
   2. Fungi reproduce via spores
   3. Cell walls (chitin) but no chloroplasts
   4. Nutrition: heterotrophic (often decomposers)
   5. Typically they absorb their food
   6. Reproduction: sexual and asexual
   7. Examples of fungi
      • Mushrooms and toadstools: decomposers
      • Morels and truffels: edible fungi
      • Yeasts: Saccharomyces (beer & wine) & Candida (yeast infections)
      • Molds: Penicillium (antibiotics; blue cheese), Mucor (Bread mold)
      • Mildews, rusts, smuts, ergot
      • Histoplasma and Cryptococcus: pathogens
      • Arthrobotrys: predator
4. Symbiotic fungi:
   • Lichen: Fungi + algae
   • Mycorrhizae: Fungi on plant roots
5. Where do these fit in?
   • Image 1
   • Image 2