Name: Protozoans
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 4 min 57 s
Description: Beware when you are in a moist environment, such as near ponds and lakes. There might be organisms like Protozoans around you that you cannot see without a microscope.

Question

Kingdom Protista was introduced by whom in classification system. Discuss its major characteristics and the organisms classified in it.

Accepted Answer

The Kingdom Protista includes all the single-celled eukaryotic organisms except the green algae. This Kingdom acts as a connecting link between the kingdom Monera and the higher kingdoms Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. This kingdom was first introduced by Ernst Haeckel in 1866.

The various characteristic features of this phylum are described as follows:

These are unicellular organisms that contain a well-developed nucleus and all the cell organelles.

These are mostly aquatic and some are endoparasites as well.

Locomotion in them occurs by pseudopodia in sarcodines (Amoeba), flagella in flagellates (Trypanosoma) and cilia in ciliates (Paramecium). Some protistans like sporozoans (Plasmodium) lack any locomotory organelle

Nutrition in them can be autotrophic (Dinoflagellates, diatoms, euglenoids), heterotrophic like saprobic in slime moulds, parasitic in Giardia and Lieshmania, symbiotic in Trychonympha and mixotrophic in Euglena.

They respire aerobically except some parasitic and benthic species.

These reproduce asexually by fission or sexually by isogamy or syngamy.

The kingdom Protista can be classified as follows:

Kingdom Protista was introduced by whom in classification system. Discuss its major characteristics and the organisms classified in it.

Important Questions on Kingdom–Protista

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