higher number of smaller protozoa (flagellates and amoebae), while coarser textured soils contain more large flagellates, amoebae of several varieties, and ciliates. Protozoa and bacterial-feeding nematodes (to be discussed in the future) compete for their common food resource: bacteria. Some soils have high numbers of either nematodes or protozoa, but not both. The significance of this difference to plants is not known. Both groups consume bacteria and release ammonium. Most protozoa eat bacteria, but one group of amoebae, the vampyrellids, eat algae and fungi. Perfectly round holes, are drilled through the fungal cell wall, much like the purported puncture marks on the neck of a vampire's victim, and are evidence of the presence of vampyrellid amoebae. The amoebae attach to the surface of fungal hyphae and generate enzymes that eat through the fungal cell wall. The amoeba then sucks out, or engulfs, the goop inside the fungal cell before moving on to its next victim. Vampyrellids
This vampyrellid amoeba has sucked the goodies out of an alga, not a fungus, but the principle is the same. BBC Earth picture attack many fungi including root pathogens, so they help to control some fungal diseases. Another bizarre feeding habit in some protozoa is stealing chloroplasts (the structures that contain chlorophyll) from prey organisms and maintaining them within their own cell bodies as they continue to produce nutrients through photosynthesis. Many protozoa also live inside other organisms: Trichonympha and Pyrsonympha, for example, inhabit the guts of termites, where they enable their insect host to digest wood by helping to break down complex sugars into smaller, more easily digested molecules. A wide range of protozoans live in the stomachs of ruminant animals, such as cattle and sheep. Another group is adapted for life in the guts of worms. Yet another in our gut!
DID YOU KNOW...? Although animals, plants and some fungi are given common names so we can discuss these life-forms in a way that other people, hopefully, know what we’re referring to, these names vary depending on where and by whom the names are being used. In many cases, life forms have been given many common names; birds are good examples as birding is so popular. For the Australian bird ‘Magpie-lark’ (Grallina cyanoleuca), other common names include ‘Australian Magpie-lark’; ‘Mudlark’; ‘Peewee’; ‘Peewit’; ‘Murray Magpie’. People often think up their own names which often then spread into wider, more common usage: which is probably why there are so many common names for Magpie-lark.
JENNIFER H. MUIR But many names for one life form can cause confusion about what’s being referred to, even leading to disputes. One recognised common name clarifies it all. When scientifically described, animals, plants and fungi are given a scientific name (usually Latin) which is universally accepted. Generally scientific name are written in italics, or if italics are unavailable, underlined. Using Grallina cyanoleuca (Magpie-lark) as an example, the first word (always starting with a capital letter) is the genus (ie Grallina) which places the life form in a closely related group. The second word, the species (all lower case) (ie cyanoleuca), is for that specific life form (the Magpie-lark) and those with which it could mate and produce fertile offspring. 21
