Common Name: Planarian

Dugesiatigrinan

Common Name: planarian

Planarian is the common name for several genera of the free-living (turbellarian) flatwormsthat belong to the order Tricladida, a name that derives from their characteristic three-branched digestive cavities. The different species are white, gray, brown, or black; a few forms are transparent. Many are striped or streaked and some of the large terrestrial species are brightly colored. Although planarians can be found in marine or moist terrestrial habitats, most inhabit freshwater areas. They crawl about over a trail of mucus that is secreted by specialized epidermal cells; the smaller forms move about by means of cilia on their ventral, or lower, surface, and larger species utilize muscular contractions as well. Planaria are multi-cellular eukaryotes which means that each of their cells contain a nucleus. Their cells do not have a cell wall. Most planarians are light-sensitive and in some, pigmented light-sensitive cells are clumped in two cups that serve as primitive eyes. Planarians are usually either carnivorous or scavengers. The mouth is located near the middle of the ventral surface. The tubelike pharynx can be everted from the mouth and inserted into the prey; food is partially digested externally before it is sucked into the gut. Planarians are hermaphroditic; each individual worm contains both male and female organs, and, most commonly, they reproduce sexually. However, many species can also reproduce asexually by fragmentation. Each half regenerates the missing parts. Such planarians can also regenerate parts that are cut from the body. Planarians are classified in the phylum Platyhelminthes , class Turbellaria, order Tricladida.

Hydra oligactus

Common name:

HYDRA

Hydra is a genus of simple, fresh-water animals possessing radial symmetry. Hydras are predatory animals belonging to the phylum Cnidaria and the class Hydrozoa.
Hydras are multicellular, eukaryotic microscopic life forms and are often studied by biologists due to their regenerative powers. Their cells lack a cellular wall. They can be found in most un-polluted freshwater ponds, lakes and streams in the temperate and tropical regions by gently sweeping a collecting net through weedy areas.
Hydras have a tubular body secured by a simple adhesive foot. A whorl of tentacles surrounds the mouth. Hydras feed on small animal-plankton organisms, especially micro-crustaceans, stunning them with stinging cells (nematocysts) in the tentacles. Each tentacle is clothed with highly specialized stinging cells called cnidocytes. Cnidocytes contain specialized structures called nematocysts which look like miniature light bulbs with a coiled thread inside. At the narrow outer edge of the cnidocyte is a short trigger hair. Upon contact with prey, the contents of the nematocyst are explosively discharged; firing a dart-like thread containing neurotoxins into whatever triggered the release. Hydras reproduce asexually by budding.

Euglena ascus

Common name : Euglena

Euglena is a eukaryote because it’s cell has a nucleus. They are single-celled organisms. Currently, over 1,000 species of Euglena have been described. A Euglena can both eat food as animals by heterotrophy; and can photosynthesize, like plants, by autotrophy. When acting as a heterotroph, the Euglena surrounds a particle of food and consumes it by phagocytosis. When acting as an autotroph, the Euglena utilizes chloroplasts, hence the green color. Euglena are able to move through aquatic environments by using a large, flagellum for locomotion. observe its environment, the cell contains an eyespot, a primitive organelle that filters sunlight into the light-detecting, photo-sensitive structures at the base of the flagellum; allowing only certain wavelengths of light to hit it. Euglena also structurally lack cell walls, but have a pellicle instead.Euglenas reproduce asexually by fission, and there has been no existence of sexual reproduction.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Common Name: Bread Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryticmicro-organisms with about 1,500 species currently described.They dominate fungal diversity in the oceans. They reproduce asexually by budding, although a few do so by binary fission. Yeasts are unicellular and do not require sunlight to grow. They do not make their own food, they must break down organic compounds. Yeast size can vary greatly depending on the species. They have a cell wall made up of chitin for protection. The yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used in baking and fermentingalcoholic beverages for thousands of years. Other species of yeast, such as Candida albicans, are opportunistic pathogens and can cause infections in humans. Yeasts have recently been used to generate electricity in microbial fuel cells and produce ethanol for the biofuel industry.

Agaricusbisporus

Common Name: Mushrooom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body. They are multi-cellular eukaryotes. They are typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. Mushrooms are decomposers. They break down dead or decaying matter. They have a cell wall made up of chitin for protection. Mushrooms grow best in dark moist areas. They can reproduce asexually by fragmentation, budding, or producing spores, or sexually.

Escherichia coli. (commonly abbreviated E. coli; is a rod-shapedbacterium that is commonly found feeding off digested materials in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms (endotherms). Most of these unicellular prokaryotes are harmless, but some can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls.The harmless strains area normal part of the gut and prevents the establishment of disease causing bacteria within the intestine.[4][5]

E. coli are not always confined to the intestine, and their ability to survive for brief periods outside the body makes them an ideal indicator organism to test environmental samples for fecal contamination. They have an outer cell wall called a capsule which protects them. Some strains also have a flagella. This is a whip-like tail that propels them through fluids. They reproduce asexually by binary fission. Many E. coli can reproduce every 8 to 10 minutes.

Peacock Ferns are multi-cellular eukaryotes. They have chloroplasts in their cells so that they can make their own food. They also have an outer cell wall for protection. They are not like a typical fern, they do not use spores to reproduce. They have sperm and egg cells and reproduce sexually.

Clostridium tetaniis a rod - shaped, unicellular, prokaryote. C. tetaniis found assporesin soil or in thegastrointestinal tractof animals.Clostridium tetanireproduces via an asexual reproduction process known as binary fission. C. tetaniproduces a potent biological toxin,tetanospasmin, and is the causative agent oftetanus, a disease characterized by painful muscular spasms that can lead to respiratory failure and, in up to 40% of cases, death. During growth, the organism cannot survive in the presence ofoxygen, is heat-sensitive and exhibitsflagellarmotility. As the bacterium matures, it develops a terminalspore, which gives the organism its characteristic appearance.C. tetanispores are extremely hardy as they are resistant to heat and mostantiseptics.[3]The spores are distributed widely inmanure-treated soils and can also be found on human skin. C. tetaniusually enters a host through a wound to the skin, then it replicates. High risk individuals are people exposed to soil or animal feces. The spores are widely distributed in soil and in the intestines and feces of horses, sheep, cattle, dogs, cats, rats, guinea pigs, and chickens. Manure-treated soil may contain large numbers of spores.

Lettuce(Lactuca sativa) is most often grown as aleaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. It is a photosynthetic, multi-cellular, eukaryote. Lettuce was first cultivated by theancient Egyptianswho turned it from aweed, whose seeds were used to produce oil, into a food plant grown for its succulent leaves, in addition to its oil-rich seeds.

Generally grown as ahardyannual, lettuce is easily cultivated, although it requires relatively low temperatures to prevent it from flowering quickly. It can be plagued with numerousnutrient deficiencies, as well as insect and mammal pests and fungal and bacterial diseases.L. sativacrosseseasily within the species and with some other species within theLactucagenus; although this trait can be a problem to home gardeners who attempt to save seeds, biologists have used it to broaden thegene poolof cultivated lettuce varieties. Lettuce flowers more quickly in hot temperatures, while freezing temperatures cause slower growth and sometimes damage to outer leaves.Once plants move past the edible stage, they develop flower stalks up to 3 feet which enable the organism to reproduce through pollination. Lettuce is a good source ofvitamin Aandpotassium, as well as a minor source for several other vitamins and nutrients. Despite its beneficial properties, contaminated lettuce is often a source of bacterial, viral and parasitic outbreaks in humans, includingE. coliandSalmonella. In addition to its main use as a leafy green, it has also gathered religious and medicinal significance over centuries of human consumption.

Amoeba proteus

Common Name: Amoeba

Amoeba proteus gets its name through two Greek words; Amoeba meaning change and proteus meaning Sea God. The Greek meaning describes this microbe as the Sea God Proteus that has an ever changing shape. Its ability to change shape is from the pseudopodia, which are common in eukaryotic microbes.Eukaryotic in nature, the Amoeba proteus has numerous membrane-bound cell organelles performing the necessary maintenance for life. Of interest are the food vacuoles, located in the endoplasm. These structures are not perminate and only formed when the organism consumes food, and subsequently dissipate.

Complementary to its name, the Amoeba proteus has an amorphous nature and is continuously changing its shape and form, due to the ability of the organism to form Pseudopodia. These are “temporary projections” of the cytoplasm which allow the organism to be mobile and are utilized in the acquisition and uptake of the organism’s nutritional requirements.

Other than its pseudopodia, the Amoeba proteus can be described as unicellular, colorless, or transparent. The average size of an Amoeba proteus varies around from 0.2 to 0.3 mm in diameter but larger forms have been found measuring up to .5 mm in diameter which is visible to the eye. [3] Amoeba proteus prefers to habitat clean ponds of highly oxygenated fresh water. It is found in large food webbed ecosystems that contain lots of algae and plants. Since it is adverse to light it will take cover under anything that provides shade, usually lilly pads. [2]

The Amoeba proteus is a free-living chemo-organo-heterotroph, where its energy is obtained from chemical sources, such as sugars, fatty acids, and glycerol. Organic substrates perform as electron donors, and carbon is acquired from organic substances. The diet of an Amoeba proteus is omnivorous in nature and consists of many other smaller microorganisms such as bacteria, diatoms, and other aquatic plants. [5]

The Amoeba proteus uses aerobic respiration. Oxygen diffuses through its surface membrane and through energy transaction, provides the organism with energy. Waste products are excreted by diffusion. These include carbon dioxide formed during respiration, and other nitrogenous waste. [3]

The Amoeba proteus reproduces asexually and has several mechanisms for doing so, depending on its current environment: 1. Binary Fission – most common method of reproduction, 2. Sporulation – unfavorable circumstances present in environment, , 3. Conjugation, and 4. Regeneration.