Sci-ber Text - 6th Grade

Micro-Organisms - Don't Drink that Water!

Visit the the PondScum Video Gallery to see AWESOME videos of microorganisms. When you visit the site, look for these Protozoans and Algae videos:

Protozoans

Euglena #2
Amoeba #2
Paramecium #6, #8
Stentor #8

Algae

Oscillatoria #1
Spyrolina #1

Have you ever looked at pond water under a microscope? If so, you have probably seen many different types of microorganisms. One common group of microorganisms is called protists. The table below shows information about four common types of protists.

Using the information in the table, illustrate a completed example of each organism. When your illustrations are completed compare them to actual pictures of each organism by pressing the links in the last row of the table.

	Paramecium	Euglena	Amoeba	Spirogyra (Algae)
Animal-like/plant-like	A paramecium is animal-like because it moves and searches for its own food.	The have characteristics of both plant and animal. Sometimes they make food and sometimes they don’t.	An amoeba is animal-like because of its ability to move. It searches for its own food.	A spirogyra is plant-like because of the presence of chlorophyll which allows it to make its own food.
Shape	Elongated oval-shaped body	Narrow oval-shaped body	Irregular shaped body	Tubelike body
Movement	Tiny hair like structures surrounding the body called cilia	One long and short tail-like structure called flagella	They push and pull with their pseudopods or false feet.	Free floating
Consumer/Producer	They find their own food. Consumer	They can produce food through photosynthesis or consume food. Either Consumer or Producer	They engulf food by surrounding it and pulling it in by the use of their pseudopodia. Consumer	They produce their own food through the process of photosynthesis. Producer
Color	Pale translucent color	Green because of chlorophll.	Pale translucent color	Green because of chlorophyll
Links to photographs and line drawings	Paramecium Paramecium Line Drawing	Euglena Euglena Line Drawing	Amoeba Amoeba Line Drawing	Spirogyra Spirogyra Line Drawing

Extension:

Explain how the different types of appendages help protists move.
Explain the function of the green color found in some protists.