Nutrition in Amoeba and Paramecium

Nutrition in Amoeba

Amoeba is a unicellular animal that lives in water. It eats microscopic plants/animals floating in its surroundings. This mode of nutrition is called Holozoic nutrition..The process of obtaining food by an amoeba (or any unicellular organism) is called phagocytosis .

Ingestion:

• An amoeba does not have a mouth. It ingests food using its pseudopodia .
• Pseudopodia are temporary figure like projections. 
• They engulf the food particle with some water to form a vacuole .

Digestion:

• It releases digestive enzymes in the vacuole which break down food into small, soluble molecules.

Absorption:

• This digested food is absorbed into cytoplasm by diffusion. After diffusion, the food vacuole disappears. 

Assimilation:

• The energy obtained from the food is used for the growth and development of amoeba and this is known as assimilation.

Egestion:

• When a considerable amount of undigested food accumulates inside the amoeba, it’s cell membrane ruptures and the waste is discarded

Nutrition in Paramecium 

Paramecium is also a unicellular organism that lives in water. 

Ingestion:

• Paramecium has hair-like structures called cillia that it uses to sweep food particles from water and put them into its mouth .
• The cilia move back and forth to move the food particle towards the mouth. The process is known as ingestion . 

Digestion:

• It releases digestive enzymes in the vacuole which break down food into small, soluble molecules.

Absorption

• This digested food is absorbed into cytoplasm by diffusion. After diffusion, the food vacuole disappears. 

Assimilation:

• The energy obtained from the food is used for the growth and development of amoeba and this is known as assimilation.

Egestion:

• When a considerable amount of undigested food accumulates inside the amoeba, it’s cell membrane ruptures and the waste is discarded

In multicellular organisms, the similar  digestive processes are carried out by a combination of digestive organs.This group of organs is called the Digestive System .