Slime Moulds and Protozoan Protists

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the lecture notes on slime moulds (mycozoans) and protozoan protists.

Slime moulds

Saprophytic protistans (mycozoans) that form a spreading, multinucleate plasmodium on decaying organic matter and produce spores under adverse conditions.

Mycozoans

Another name for slime moulds, reflecting their fungus-like habit of forming resistant spores despite being protists.

Saprophytic

Mode of nutrition in which an organism obtains food by decomposing and absorbing nutrients from dead organic material.

Plasmodium (of slime moulds)

A large, diploid, multinucleate, amoeboid mass that can extend over several feet while engulfing decaying matter before differentiating into fruiting bodies.

Fruiting body (slime mould)

Structure produced by the plasmodium during unfavorable conditions; bears spores at its tips.

Slime-mould spores

Reproductive cells with true cellulosic walls that are highly resistant and dispersed by air currents, allowing survival for years in harsh environments.

Protozoan protists

Animal-like, heterotrophic protists that live as predators or parasites; considered primitive relatives of animals.

Amoeboid protozoans

A group of protozoan protists that inhabit fresh water or marine environments and exhibit an amoeboid form.

Heterotroph

An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and must obtain nutrients from external organic sources; characteristic of slime moulds and all protozoans.

Multinucleate

Containing many nuclei within one continuous cell mass, as seen in the plasmodium stage of slime moulds.