Plantlike Protists: Unicellular Algae

• contain chlorophyll and carry out photosynthesis
• commonly called algae
• four phyla: euglenophytes, chrysophytes, diatoms, dinoflagellates
• accessory pigments help absorb light, give algae a variety of colors

Euglenophytes

Euglena (See Euglena Coloring Sheet )

live in water
have 2 flagella for movement
use chlorplasts for photosynthesis, but can turn into heterotrophs if they are kept in the dark
has an eyespot used for sensing light and dark
pellicle - like a cell wall, helps maintain their shapes

Chrysophytes yellow-green algae, "golden plants"

Diatoms produce thin cell walls of silicon, main component of glass

Dinoflagellates Often have two flagella luminescent

Ecology of Unicellular Algae

• make up the base of aquatic food chains
• phytoplankton makes up half of the photosynthesis that occurs on earth (oxygen)
• can cause Red Tides - algal blooms - which are toxic

Plantlike Protists: Red, Brown, Green Algae

Green Algae: Phylum Chlorophyta

Unicellular green algae, Colonial (volvox), Multicellular (ulva, sea lettuce)

Spirogyra

live in water, multicellular
named after a spiral shaped chloroplast
autotrophic

Funguslike Protists

• heterotrophs, decomposers
• called slime molds and water molds
• water molds responsible for the Irish Great Potato Famine

Dog Vomit Slime Mold - because it looks like dog puke, but it's really a protist, in the phylum Myxomycota

Related Notes: Kingdom Protista | Parasitic Protists

Photo By KeresH (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons