Kingdom Protista, the most diverse kingdom simplified for your understanding.

1. KINGDOM PROTISTA
L N V A L E N T I N E

2. GRADE 11 OUTCOMES FOR THE LESSON:
Learners should be able to:
• list the characteristics of protists.
• describe the nutrition of different protists.
• explain the process of phagocytosis.
• distinguish between the different modes of movement

3. PROTISTS ARE:
These are eukaryotes.
They show a great deal of diversity in their structure.
MOST of them are unicellular and microscopic.
Others are multicellular and macroscopic, for example seaweeds
(Solver, 2014).
Slime moulds,
protozoans, diatoms,
red, brown and green
algae are examples of
protists.

4. CHARACTERISTICS OF PROTISTS
• Most are aquatic while others are terrestrial found
living in damp soil or snow.
• They have both autotrophic and heterotrophic
organisms while some are saprotrophic (Ferguson,
2011).
• There are different types of heterotrophic protists
as well.
• Some of them are parasitic e.g. Entamobea
histolytica and others are free living.
• The slime moulds engulf their food by a process
called phagocytosis (Farlow, 2013).

5. • Protists are not categorised as fungi, plants or animals but some show some sort of
likeness to these kingdoms respectively.
• Therefore many scientists believe protists to be some of the “very first” species to exist and
that their evolution resulted the species belonging to fungi, plant or animal kingdoms
that exist today (Vicedor, 2013).
• While others believe Kingdom Protista to be the junk yard or outcast kingdom

6. THREE GROUPS OF PROTISTS
PROTISTS ARE GROUPED ACCORDING TO HOW THEY MOVE AND OBTAIN
THEIR NUTRIENTS
(Farlow, 2013)

7. HOW PROTISTS OBTAIN NUTRIENTS
AUTOTROPHIC
PROTISTS:
AUTO = BY ITSELF
TROPH = NUTRITION
USE LIGHT ENERGY OR
INORGANIC
CHEMICALS TO
PRODUCE THEIR OWN
FOOD
HETEROTROPHIC
PROTISTS:
HETERO = OTHER
INGEST ORGANIC
SUBSTANCES THAT
WILL BE BROKEN
DOWN FOR ENERGY
SAPROTROPHIC
PROTISTS:
SAPRO = DECAYING
ABSORBS
NUTRIENTS FROM
DECAYING ORGANIC
MATTER
(Solver,

8. ANIMAL-LIKE PROTISTS
• ALL HETEROTROPHIC PROTISTS
• CLASSIFIED BY THE 4 WAYS THEY MOVE
• 1. CILIA:TINY BEATING HAIR-LIKE STRUCTURES,
THESE ARE OUTGROWTHS FOUND ON
CELL MEMBRANES. e.g. Paramecium
- Coordinated movement between
individual cilia
.
• 2. FLAGELLUM: A HAIR-LIKE APPENDAGE OR
WHIP-LIKE TAIL. e.g. Trypanosoma
- back and forth wave motion
(Vicedor, 2013).

9. ANIMAL-LIKE PROTISTS
3. PSEUDOPODIA: PROJECTION OF CYTOPLASM
THAT STICKS OUT LIKE A FOOT
MODERN LATIN (PSEUDO- FALSE;
PODIA- FOOT) e.g. Amoeba
-sliding or crawling like
movement
4. SESSILE: NO LOCOMOTION e.g.
Vorticella live attached to
substrate (Vicedor, 2013).

10. PLANT-LIKE PROTISTS
Grouped according to colour and structure
(Solver, 2014).

11. PHAGOCYTOSIS
Phagocytosis is the process
during which food is engulfed by
the pseudopodia together with a
droplet of water to form a food
vacuole (Farlow, 2013).

12. REPRODUCTION
Asexual reproduction by binary
fission occurs. During binary
fission one cell divides to form
two (Vicedor, 2013).
In other lifecycles, both sexual
and asexual reproduction
occurs (Vicedor, 2013).

13. EUGLENA- UNICELLULAR PROTIST

15. MALARIA
• Malaria is caused by a Protist.
• This Protist is a protozoan called the
Plasmodium
• There are 5 species of Plasmodium that cause
Malaria (Bhushan, 2016)
• These species are microscopic.

18. MALARIA
Malaria is a disease which is most widespread in sub-Saharan Africa
Up to 2 million people die from it annually
Mosquitoes DO NOT cause malaria
The female Anopheles mosquito is the vector which carries and
transmits the microorganism Plasmodium, which causes malaria
When the mosquito bites somebody, the Plasmodium is transferred
into that person’s bloodstream (Bhushan, 2016).

19. 1. An infected female Anopheles mosquito bites a human and transfers
Plasmodium into the human’s blood
2. Plasmodium moves to the liver, and reproduces
3. Liver cells burst, new Plasmodium move into the blood
4. And 5. Plasmodium reproduces in red blood cells
6. Mosquito bites an infected person and becomes infected with
Plasmodium (Farlow, 2013).

20. 20

21. QUOTE OF THE DAY
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22. Reference list
• Bhushan, B. (2016). Malaria - Complications (Severe Malaria). [online] www.slideshare.net. Available at:
https://www.slideshare.net/brijbhushan1/malaria-complications-severe-malaria?from_search=1 [Accessed 18 Aug.
2023].
• Farlow, H. (2013). Evolution of Protists. [online] www.slideshare.net. Available at:
https://www.slideshare.net/hilaryBIO/evolution-of-protists [Accessed 18 Aug. 2023].
• Ferguson, S. (2011). Viruses, bacteria, protists and fungi. [online] slideshare. Available at:
https://www.slideshare.net/Sianfergs/viruses-bacteria-protists-and-fungi-10220041.
• Solver, D. (2014). Kingdom Protista. [online] Slideshare.net. Available at:
https://www.slideshare.net/daddysgirl2891/kingdom-protista-31973783.
• Vicedor, A. (2013). Kingdom Protista. [online] www.slideshare.net. Available at:
https://www.slideshare.net/alaineee/kingdom-protista-16999772 [Accessed 18 Aug. 2023].
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