Amoeba and Paramecium are both single cells that take in whole food…
Contributed by StemPy LabTry it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
Amoeba and Paramecium are both single cells that take in whole food. Write the steps by which each one gets a food particle inside it, and explain the difference.
Need a reminder? The key ideaShow
Holozoic: whole food taken in and digested inside. Saprophytic: food digested outside the body on dead matter, then absorbed. Parasitic: food taken from a living host. Amoeba traps food in a food vacuole with pseudopodia; Paramecium sweeps it into a fixed groove with cilia.
The worked solution
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. Amoeba. Pseudopodia flow around the particle and close. The food is now in a food vacuole, where it is digested, and the waste is thrown out at the surface.
Step 2. Paramecium. Its cilia beat and sweep water with food into a groove at one fixed spot. There the food enters the cell in a vacuole.
Step 3. The difference. Amoeba has no fixed shape, so it can take food in anywhere. Paramecium has a fixed shape, so it takes food in only at one place.
Answer: Amoeba surrounds food with pseudopodia anywhere on its surface; Paramecium sweeps food with cilia into one fixed groove.
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