Question

Paramecium is a unicellular organism that lives in fresh water. suppose you are studying two populations of this organism: one population lives in a pond in northern ontario, canada, and the other lives in a pond in southern florida. if you examined the plasma membranes of both of these populations at the same time of year, what difference would you expect to find between the two populations' cell membranes?

Answer 1

Paramecium is protozoan which is like a bedroom slipper in shape and swims rapidly in a corkscrew fashion by means of an army of cilia that operate in wavelike movements. These tiny creatures are abundant in freshwater ponds, especially in areas that are rich in algae.

Paramecium rescued from a fresh pond in Florida is among the most complex single-celled organisms found in fresh water. The fatty acid side chains in the membrane phospholipids of the Florida Paramecia would generally be longer and would be more saturated compared to those in the membranes of the Canada Paramecia.

Moreover, the species Paramecium bursarial shapes advantageous associations with green growth. The green growth lives in its cytoplasm. Algal photosynthesis gives a nourishment source to Paramecium. Paramecia can be utilized as model creatures to examine. You should know that the paramecium swims by rotating along its longer axis and is constantly in search of food, which is swept into the organism by a series of cilia that line the oral groove and gullet.