This creature, with a bright memorable name, everyone remembers from the school curriculum. The habitat of the ciliates-slippers determines many of the processes of its life. Features of the structure and physiology of this organism we will consider in our article.
Habitat of ciliates: description
The named unicellular organism, the only cell of which resembles the sole of a shoe, can be found only in small fresh water bodies. The ciliator prefers still water, in which there are decomposing residues of organic matter. This habitat of the ciliates-shoes (the photo below shows the shape of the cell) allows it to actively move in search of food.
How to grow ciliates
The ciliates cell is quite large for representatives of this systematic group - up to 0.5 mm. But you can only see it well under a microscope. If you decide to do this, then ready-made samples can be taken even in an ordinary aquarium.
To grow a culture of ciliates independently is within the power of everyone. To do this, you need to take the basis - a little water from the aquarium or the coastal part of the reservoir. Place a drop of this liquid on a glass slide and examine under a microscope. If you find ciliates, this base can be used. Next, the liquid must be placed on glass, and on both sides - a drop of pure water and salty. After we connect everything with a match, forming the so-called bridge. In such conditions, ciliates will begin to move into clean water. This culture is pipetted into a container for further cultivation - it can be any jar of clean water.
For growth, ciliates need a nutrient solution. To prepare it, you need to take a little hay and boil it for about 20 minutes in one liter of water. After that, only spores of hay bacillus will remain in the solution, and all other microorganisms will die. The resulting liquid needs to stand for 3 days. During this time, the spores will develop into a hay stick, which will be an excellent feed for ciliates. These unicellular can also be fed boiled or condensed milk and infusion with hydrolytic yeast. How to understand what ciliates need to be fed? If the liquid in the jar becomes transparent, then it's time to eat.
Movement of ciliates
The aquatic habitat of the ciliates, shoes allows it to move actively. She carries out this process with the help of specialized organelles - cilia. About 15 thousand are located on the surface of one ciliator. Their coordinated work allows the creature to reach speeds of up to 3 mm / s.
The work of the cilia resembles the movement of oars or a pendulum. The organelles of movement rise sharply, and then smoothly return to their place. In one second, the ciliator makes such movements up to several tens. The infusoria moves with a blunt end forward, while simultaneously turning around the axis of its body.
Power supplies
By type of nutrition, this organism belongs to the group of heterotrophs. The source of prepared organic substances is the habitat of the ciliates. Nutrition is carried out using specialized vacuoles. And the basis of the diet is made up of cells of bacteria and plants, which are found in large quantities in contaminated water. Their infusoria captures with the help of a small depression - the cell mouth.
Next, the food enters a kind of throat and ends up in the cytoplasm. Around it, a digestive vacuole begins to form, in which the cleavage process takes place. The substances in this organelle are exposed to hydrolytic enzymes. Undigested food debris is removed from the infusorian cell through a hole - a powder.
Metabolism
The habitat of the ciliates is a liquid with a certain content of various substances, including salts. In the cytoplasm itself, their concentration is much lower. Therefore, water continuously enters the cell from the environment.
The regulation of this process is carried out using contractile vacuoles. There are two ciliates in the cage: at the posterior and anterior end of the body. These are pulsating cavities of a round shape, from which tubules radially radiate in all directions. Contractile vacuoles maintain osmotic pressure at a constant level.
Gas exchange in ciliates is carried out by the entire surface of the body. Oxygen enters the cytoplasm through the membrane. Organic substances are oxidized with the release of energy, water and carbon dioxide. Metabolism products are also removed through the membrane.
Breeding methods
All life processes are determined by the habitat of the ciliates. Reproduction is no exception. So, at a comfortable temperature, ciliates cells divide in two. This process begins with crushing the core. Each of the daughter cells receives only part of the organelles, and the missing ones are restored.
With a decrease in water temperature or lack of food, ciliates go on to the sexual process. It is called conjugation. At the same time, two ciliates come closer to each other, a cytoplasmic bridge is formed between them. On it is the exchange of genetic information. As a result, the number of individuals does not change. The significance of this process is to update the hereditary material, which significantly increases the adaptive ability of organisms.
The aquatic habitat of the ciliates-shoes provides the necessary conditions for the implementation of all the processes of its life: active movement, heterotrophic nutrition, aerobic respiration and various types of reproduction.