Vocabulary
These are diverse eukaryotic organisms that are not classified as plants, animals, or fungi, and are often unicellular.
What are protists?
These protists have two nuclei and modified mitochondria (mitosomes) and often cause intestinal infections like diarrhea.
What are diplomonads?
hese unicellular algae have intricately patterned silica cell walls called frustules and are major contributors to aquatic primary production.
What are diatoms?
This group is defined by primary endosymbiosis and contains organisms with chloroplasts derived directly from cyanobacteria.
What are general characteristics of archaeplastida?
This group has a single emergent flagellum (ancestrally) and a specific cytoskeletal organization.
What are general characteristics of unikonts?
This is why protists are no longer classified as a single kingdom, based on the fact that they do not form a natural evolutionary group.
What are paraphyletic group?
These anaerobic protists lack typical mitochondria, possess hydrogenosomes, and include sexually transmitted parasites.
What are parabasalids?
These photosynthetic protists often have two flagella, cellulose plates, and can cause harmful algal blooms known as red tides.
What are dinoflagellates?
These algae contain phycoerythrin, allowing them to absorb blue light and live in deeper water environments.
What are red algae?
These amoeboid protists move using lobe-shaped pseudopodia supported by actin cytoskeleton elements.
What are tubulinids?
his evolutionary process involves one organism living inside another, eventually becoming a permanent, inherited cellular structure.
What is endosymbiosis?
This diverse group of excavates is characterized by unique flagella containing a spiral or crystalline rod.
What are euglenozoans?
These protists move using coordinated cilia and possess two types of nuclei (macro- and micronucleus) for different cellular functions.
What are ciliates?
These algae share key traits with plants, including cellulose cell walls and chlorophyll a and b, and are considered plant ancestors.
What are green algae?
These protists exist as either a multinucleate mass or as aggregations of individual cells and play roles in decomposition.
What are slime molds?
These are the three major nutritional modes of protists, including those that photosynthesize, those that ingest or absorb food, and those that can switch between both strategies.
What are photoautotrophs, heterotrophs, and mixotrophs?
These photosynthetic or mixotrophic protists can survive in low-oxygen environments and have flexible pellicles instead of cell walls.
What are euglenids?
These amoeboid protists extend threadlike pseudopodia and produce calcium carbonate shells called tests, often forming marine sediments.
What are forams?
These multicellular organisms evolved from green algae and exhibit complex tissues and alternation of generations.
These parasitic amoebas infect the human intestine and can cause severe dysentery.
What are entamoebas?
These are the two major ecological roles of protists, including their function as primary producers in aquatic systems and as organisms living in close relationships with other species.
What are producers and symbionts?
These parasitic protists contain a kinetoplast (a large mass of mitochondrial DNA) and include species that cause diseases like sleeping sickness.
What are kinetoplastids?
These amoeboid protists extend long, threadlike pseudopodia reinforced by microtubules and often possess intricate silica skeletons used for structure and feeding.
What are radiolarians?
This subgroup of green algae is most closely related to land plants and shares similar cell division and structural traits.
What are charophytes?
This broad group includes fungi, animals, and closely related protists, all characterized by a single posterior flagellum at some life stage.
What are opisthokonts?