The usefulness of protozoa can be discuss under the following heads:
Helpful in Sanitation:
A large number of protozoans living in polluted water feed upon waste organic substances and thus purify it. Numerous holozoic protozoa feed upon bacteria and play an important role in the sanitary betterment and keeping water safe for drinking.
Protozoa in food:
Although so minute, the protozoans are so numerous that they form sources of food supply to man both indirectly. The protozoans are ingested or fed by insect larvae, crustaceans and worms, which are devoured by fishes, calm and other bigger animals, these constitute the food of man.
The pelagic foraminifers and Radiolaria after death sink to the ocean bottom and along with the debris form the fundamental food supply, the dinoflagellates constitute a large part of plankton, which is utilized by the aquatic animals. Some of the protozoans are photosynthetic and can produce eighty times as much food as the most efficient protein producing crops.
Symbiotic protozoans:
Certain protozoa like Trichonympha and colonympha etc. live in the intestine of termites and wood cockroaches and help in the digestion of cellulose, which is converted into glycogen to be utilized by the host.
Commercial use of Protozoans:
The skeletal deposits of foramenifera and Radiolaria form oceanic ooze at the bottom of the sea. This is converted into important rock strata.
Helpful in Sanitation:
A large number of protozoans living in polluted water feed upon waste organic substances and thus purify it. Numerous holozoic protozoa feed upon bacteria and play an important role in the sanitary betterment and keeping water safe for drinking.
Protozoa in food:
Although so minute, the protozoans are so numerous that they form sources of food supply to man both indirectly. The protozoans are ingested or fed by insect larvae, crustaceans and worms, which are devoured by fishes, calm and other bigger animals, these constitute the food of man.
The pelagic foraminifers and Radiolaria after death sink to the ocean bottom and along with the debris form the fundamental food supply, the dinoflagellates constitute a large part of plankton, which is utilized by the aquatic animals. Some of the protozoans are photosynthetic and can produce eighty times as much food as the most efficient protein producing crops.
Symbiotic protozoans:
Certain protozoa like Trichonympha and colonympha etc. live in the intestine of termites and wood cockroaches and help in the digestion of cellulose, which is converted into glycogen to be utilized by the host.
Commercial use of Protozoans:
The skeletal deposits of foramenifera and Radiolaria form oceanic ooze at the bottom of the sea. This is converted into important rock strata.
