Animal and plant diversity

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Animal and plant diversity

Introduction:

There are five kingdoms of living things. They are the Animal, Plant, Fungi, Monera and the Protists kingdom. The Protist Kingdom is made up of single-celled organisms. All of the protists are eukaryotic and there are about 50 000 species of protists. Some of the examples of protists are amoeba, paramecium, euglena, chlamydomonas, and stentor. These tiny organisms are mostly microscopic but some can be macroscopic. Most of these are found in fresh water, sea, moist soil and in the bodies of animals. Most of the protist species are heterotrophic which means that they feed off other living things. Some are autotrophs; examples of these are Amoeba, paramecium, and euglena. There are some species that contain chloroplast to make their own food by photosynthesis. Some others have different ways of containing their food or catching their prey. Protozoans have developed a number of different ways to move. Protozoans can move with the help of cilia and flagella which are hair-like structures that stick out, they function to help the cells move. Pseudopodia movement helps the cell facilitate to capture their prey. (Wilkinson, 1987)

Protists have simple cell structures that have a variety of functions, hence making them different to plants and animals. The functions of these cells are being able to digest, excrete, reproduce, move, and respirate. Although they are simple cells, they are very efficient. (Cellular Structure and Function, 2004)

        

Substances like oxygen and carbon dioxide move into and out of each protozoan by a process called diffusion. Diffusion in protozoa’s are facilitated due to them being simple-celled organisms. Oxygen and carbon dioxide moves in and out faster through the cell membranes because they are very tiny cells. (Cellular Structure and Function, 2004)

There are four main classes that the protozoans belong to; they are Class Flagellata, Class Sarcodina, Class Sporozoa, and Class Ciliata, although there are other classes of protozoans. An example of flagellate is euglena. An example of Sarcodina is Amoeba. Plasmodium is an example of sporozoa. Paramecium is an example of Ciliata. (Wilkinson, 1987)

Some protozoans like euglena contain chloroplasts and can make their own food by photosynthesis.

Euglena has many characteristics of animals and plants. Euglena has cells that have large central nucleus and they also have numerous chloroplasts that contain chlorophyll. They also make their own food by photosynthesis. The characteristic of animals in euglena are they have a long whip like flagellum used for locomotion. The main animal characteristic of euglena is its motility, but it also can absorb form its surrounding environment. Euglena also has a red eyespot that detects light. The eyespot directs euglena to a light supply enough for photosynthesis to occur; this process is the same as a plant making its food. If there is any absence of light euglena absorbs dissolved nutrients from the surrounding environment.

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(Animal Euglena, 2000)

The process of Amoeba and Paramecium of obtaining their food is quite similar, but they use different movements to get their food. Amoeba has pseudopodium that helps it to catch its prey, and paramecium has cilium that helps it to move. (Maronich, M)

Aim: 

To observe tiny organisms that belongs to the Protist Kingdom, and to state the differences between the five.

Apparatus:

 

        Amoeba, paramecium, stentor, chlamydomonas, and euglena

                Microscope

                Cavity slide        

                Cover ...

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