Diatom

//Bacillariophyceae centrales//

Protista: Diatoms Did you know that the protist kingdom almost wiped out the French wine industry? Water mold developed in the grapes which went into the wine. The protist kingdom is where all of the multicellular organisms that do not fit into any other kingdom go. This makes the protest kingdom the most diverse of all kingdoms. There are plant like, animal like, and fungi like protists. Our organism the protist is multicellular and unicellular which means some have more than one cell and some have only one cell. Most of the Protists are unicellular though. Protists sometimes have a cell wall and sometimes they don’t. A cell wall is what a plant has. It’s what keeps the plant rigid or stiff. The cell wall surrounds the outside of the cell to keep the cell intact. The protist is only eukaryotic which means it has a nucleus. A nucleus is the most important part of a cell. It keeps every part of the cell running.  Kingdom protista is very different from the other kingdoms. A special type of protest in this kingdom is the diatoms. Another name for Diatoms is Bacillariophta. One type of protist called odontella has exquisite silica shells called frustules. Diatoms are among the loveliest microfossils and are among the most important microorganisms. They are extremely abundant in plankton and in sediments and marine and freshwater organisms. This is possible because protists are photosynthetic this makes them an important food source for marine organism and they be found in soils or on moist mosses.  Diatoms have an extensive fossil record all the way back to the cretaceous period. Some rocks are formed almost entirely of fossil Diatoms called Diatomite. These deposits are mined commercially as abrasives and filtering aids. They may also provide important information on past environmental conditions.


 * By: Dean, Paige, Amy, and Dani Pd. 1

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