Protists

Protist

Informal name of the group of unicellular eukaryotes that exhibits more structural and functional diversity than all other eukaryotes.

Plastids

Small organelles, such as chloroplasts, found in the cytoplasm of plant cells, containing pigment or food.

Red Algae

Multicellular seaweeds that have reddish color due to phycoerythrin, most abundant in coastal tropical waters.

Green Algae

The ancestor of land plants, a paraphyletic group containing two main groups (charophytes and chlorophytes).

Chlorophytes

A group of green algae that live in freshwater, marine environments, and damp soil, exhibiting complex life cycles.

Archaeplastida

A supergroup that includes red and green algae as well as land plants, all derived from a common ancestor.

Excavata

A supergroup characterized by its cytoskeleton, some of which have an excavated feeding groove.

Diplomonads

Protists with reduced mitochondria (mitosomes) that live in anaerobic environments and are often parasitic.

Parabasalids

Protists with reduced mitochondria (hydrogenosomes) that generate energy anaerobically and live in anaerobic environments.

Euglenozoa

A diverse clade characterized by a spiral or crystalline rod inside their flagella, including predatory heterotrophs and photosynthetic autotrophs.

Diatoms

Unicellular algae with a glass-like wall of silicon dioxide, important for phytoplankton and carbon cycling.

Brown Algae

The largest and most complex algae, typically multicellular and marine, commonly referred to as seaweed.

Alternation of Generations

A life cycle that alternates between multicellular haploid and diploid forms.

Dinoflagellates

Protists with two flagella and cellulose plates, important components of phytoplankton, some cause harmful algal blooms.

Apicomplexans

Parasitic protists that require multiple hosts to complete their life cycle, some cause serious human diseases.

Ciliates

A large group of protists that use cilia to move and feed, displaying genetic variation through conjugation.

Amoeba

Protists that move and feed via pseudopodia, which are extensions of the cell surface.

Forams

Protists with porous, multichambered shells that are used to estimate changes in ocean temperature.

Endosymbiosis

A relationship where one organism lives inside the cells of another.

Pseudopodia

Extensions of the cell surface used by some protists for movement and sensing their environment.

Kinetoplast

A single mitochondrion with an organized mass of DNA found in kinetoplastids.

mycosis

a general term for a fungal infection in animals.

mycelia?

Networks of branched hyphae that form the vegetative part of a fungus.

Hyphae

The long, branching, filamentous structures that make up the body of a fungus.

Haustoria

Specialized hyphae that allow fungi to penetrate the tissues of their host for nutrient absorption.

Septa

Structures in hyphae that divide them into cells with pores, allowing cell-to-cell movement of organelles.

Radiolarians

Marine protist with delicate, symmetrical internal skeletons made of silica. These use pseudopodia to engulf microbes through phagocytosis

Unikonta

The presence of a single flagellum or pseudopod during at least one stage of the organism's life cycle. Supergroup includes animals, fungi, and some protist with two clades, amoebozas and opisthokonts

Amoebozoans

Amoeba that have tube-shaped pseudopodia. These include slime moulds, tubulinids, and entamoebas

Plasmodial slime molds form into masses and decompose material through phagocytosis

Tubulinids

Diverse group of amoebozoans with lobe- or tube-shaped pseudopodia. These are common unicellular protist in soil as well as marine environments. These seek out and consume bacteria and other protist

Opisthokonts

animals, fungi, and related protist

Protist play a key role in ecological communities, especially the roles of symbiont and producer