Overview:
Protozoa are one-celled organisms. They live in both freshwater and saltwater environments, as well as in moist soil and other fluids. They feed on similar organisms, as well as getting nutrients such as oxygen directly from the environment by diffusion. Protozoa are classified by their method of movement.
What Are Flagellates?
Flagellates have one or two hairlike structures called flagella, which they whip to move. Most of them are parasites, such as the form that causes African sleeping sickness. They first live in the tsetse fly, and are spread to humans or cattle when the fly bites them. The parasites reproduce, and poison their hosts in the process. They do not affect the tsetse flies that carry them with any illness. Other types of flagellates live in other organisms.
What Are Sarcodines?
Sarcodines do not have flagella. Instead, they move by flowing parts of themselves into projections and creeping along by those projections. Amoeba are the most familiar form of sarcodines, and they move by constantly changing shape. They can also absorb prey by moving part of themselves around it, flowing over it, and digesting it. They move away from light and harmful chemicals and move towards food.
What Are Ciliates?
Ciliates have hundreds of hairlike structures called cilia that beat rapidly and help them to move or attract prey. Paramecia are the most familiar ciliates, and they live in fresh water. Although they are still single-celled organisms, they have specialized structures that control metabolism, capture food, and reproduction. They avoid obstacles, and also defend themselves from attack.
What Are Sporozoans?
Sporozoans are parasites that do not move independently, but move within currents in the body fluids of their hosts. They cause serious, often fatal diseases such as malaria. The sporozoans that cause malaria require mosquitoes to carry them from place to place, and allow them a place to reproduce. During the reproduction process, they produce spores that invade red blood cells.
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