KEY - Protists Study Guide / Mr. Lemmons / Zoology / DCHS
Answer these on separate sheets of notebook paper; number each answer based on the question; you do NOT
have to re-write the question. Staple this sheet on the top of your answers for full credit.
1. What are protists? (p. 497 key concept) = Eukaryotes that are not members of the kingdoms
Plantae, Animalia, or Fungi
2. How many species of protists are there according to the textbook? (p. 497) = more than 200,000
3. Most protists are unicellular, but not all. Draw the multicellular Spirogyra. (p. 497) = Figure 20-1
What “Kingdom” does your textbook classify protists into? (p.497 top of page) = Kingdom Protista
What does “Protista” mean? (p. 498) = the very first
What is one way to classify protists? (p. 498) = by how they obtain nutrition
Protists that are heterotrophs are called? (p. 498) = animallike
Protists that produce their own food are called? (p. 498) = plantlike
Funguslike protists obtain their food by? (p. 498) = external digestion including decomposing
dead material and parasitism
10. Why are the classification categories debatable? (p. 498) = Studies of DNA show that even within
a group, many have different ancestors
11. Using your knowledge of the Greek orgins of the word “protist”, what is a possible meaning for the
term “protogalaxy”? = 1st galaxy
12. How are the four phyla of animallike protists distinguished from one another? (p. 499) = by their
means of movement (= locomotion)
13. How do animallike zooflagellates move? To what phylum have they been classified? (p. 499) =
using flagella; phylum Zoomastigina
14. Draw the zooflagellate Leishmania donovani and specifically label its organ of locomotion. (p. 499)
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= figure 20-3 left-hand side of page (label a flagellum)
15. How do animallike sarcodines move? To what phylum have they been classified? (p. 500) = by
pseudopods; phylum Sarcodina
16. Draw the sarcodine Amoeba proteus and specifically label its organ of locomotion (p. 500) =
figure 20-4 (label pseudopods)
17. How do animallike ciliates move? To what phylum have they been classified? (p. 501) = by cilia;
phylum Ciliophora
18. Draw the ciliate Paramecium caudatum and specifically label its organ of locomotion (p. 501) =
figure 20-5; label cilia
19. How is the sexual process conjugation helpful to a large population of ciliates? (p. 502) = helps to
produce and maintain genetic diversity
20. Malaria is a parasitic disease that involves high fevers, shaking
chills, flu-like symptoms, and anemia. In general, what is the cycle of malarial infection? (p. 503) =
a female Anopheles mosquito bites a human and either picks up the disease-carrying protist
(Plasmodium) or delivers it
21. What is African sleeping sickness and what organism causes it? How is it spread? (p. 504) = a
disease where people have circulatory & nervous system damage to the point of losing
consciousness including sometimes lapsing into fatal sleep; spread by the tsetse fly carrying the
protist Trypanosoma
22. How does the animallike protist Trichonympha benefit a termite? (p. 505) = it produces the
digestive enzymes allowing termites to eat wood fiber
23. What is the function of chlorophyll and accessory pigments in algae? (p. 506; key concept) = allow
algae to harvest and use the energy from sunlight
24. What are euglenophytes? What phylum do these unicellular algae belong to? (p. 507; key concept)
= plantlike protists that have two flagella but no cell wall; phylum Euglenophyta
25. Draw the freshwater euglenophyte Euglena and label its organ of locomotion. (p. 507; figure 20-10)
= Figure 20-10; label flagella
26. What are chrysophytes? What phylum do these unicellular algae belong to? (p. 507; key concept) =
plantlike protists that have gold-colored chloroplasts; phylum Chrysophyta
27. To which phylum do the unicellular, glasslike, plantlike protists called diatoms belong? (p. 507) =
Bacillariophyta
28. Many dinoflagellates are luminescent (= give off light). To what phylum do these unicellular algae
belong? (p. 508) = Pyrrophyta
29. At least half of the oxygen on the earth comes from these plantlike protists that are unicellular algae;
these organisms also make up the base of many aquatic food webs; what are they called? (p. 509) =
phytoplankton
30. You notice an algal bloom in the water. What does this tell you about the condition of the water?
How will the algal bloom affect organisms in the water? (p. 509) = the excessive amount of waste
in the water; the bloom depletes the water of nutrients causing them to die-off, which depletes
the water of oxygen from their decomposition resulting in the death of other organisms
31. Distinguish between the following mostly-multicellular plantlike protists: Red, Brown, and Green
(pages 510-511; key concepts) = Red algae are able to live at great depths due to their efficiency
in harvesting light energy. They contain chlorophyll a and reddish accessory pigments called
phycobilins; Brown algae contain chlorophyll a and c, as well as a brown accessory pigment
fucoxanthin; Green algae share many characteristics with plants, including their
photosynthetic pigments and cell wall composition.
32. Volvox is a green algae that lives in multicellular colonies; draw it. (p. 512) =
Figure 20-16 middle photograph
33. List a way in which humans use algae for each of the following: a) Health; b) Food ; c) Industry; d)
Science (p. 515) = a) vitamin C, iron; treat stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, arthritis; b)
thickener in ice cream, salad dressing, pudding, candy bars; sushi wrap; c) plastics, waxes,
transistors, deodorants, paints, artificial wood; d) agar
34. What are the similarities and differences between funguslike protists and fungi? (p. 516; 1st key
concept) = Like fungus, funguslike protists are heterotrophs that absorb nutrients from dead
or decaying organic matter (= decomposer); but unlike most true fungi, funguslike protists
have centrioles and lack the chitin cell walls of true fungi
35. Concerning the ecology of funguslike protists, what is an important positive role they play in the
environment? What is a negative (harmful) role they play? (pages 519-520) = Positive: recycle
organic matter (= dead plants/animals) which provides rich topsoil; Negative: cause diseases
such as mildew, grape blight, tomato blight potato blight