Protists and fungi

• Fungi


  Eukaryotic organisms, can be unicellular or multicellular
• Fungi


  • Yeast (unicellular)
  • Mushrooms (multicellular)
• Fungi


  • Have long thread-like structures called hyphae which come out of the main body and spread through the soil
  • Hyphae can spread over plants or even penetrate human skin and cause disease
  • Hyphae can produce spores which spread easily and grow into new fungi
• Fungal disease


  • Rose black spot
• Rose black spot


  • Causes purple or black spots to form on the leaves of plants, especially roses
  • As the fungus does more damage, the leaves can start to turn yellow and drop off
• Treating rose black spot

  1. Chop off all infected leaves and destroy them

  2. Spray the plant with fungicides which kill any fungus
• Protists


  Eukaryotic organisms, can be single-celled or multi-celled, majority are single-celled
• Parasitic protists


  Live on or inside other organisms and survive at that other organism's expense
• Vectors


  Other organisms like insects that transport protists between different host organisms
• Vectors don't get the disease themselves
• Malaria


  • Caused by a parasitic protist
  • Transmitted by mosquitoes
• How malaria spreads


  1. Mosquito feeds on infected animal and sucks up parasites

  2. Mosquito then feeds on healthy animal and transfers parasites
• Malaria symptoms


  • Recurrent episodes of bad fevers, headaches, and feeling dreadful
  • Can be fatal in some cases
• Preventing diseases spread by vectors

  1. Reduce number of vectors (e.g. destroy mosquito breeding sites, use insecticides)

  2. Stop vectors from feeding on humans (e.g. use mosquito nets, repellents)