Kingdoms of Life: Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia – Study Notes

Kingdom Protista

Kingdom Protista is so diverse that some taxonomists believe it could be subdivided into many kingdoms. Any organism that is difficult to classify will be assigned to Kingdom Protista.
Like all eukaryotes, protist cells have a true nucleus and internal membranes.
Protists may resemble Fungi, Animals, Plants, or have some combination of traits from the other 5 kingdoms.
They may be unicellular, colonial or multicellular.
They may be autotrophic or heterotrophic.
The most elaborate cells on Earth are unicellular protists.
Artistic depiction notes the diversity of Protists (tree of life context).

Examples and descriptions

Amoeba: an example of a protozoan, an animal-like protist. It is made up of a single, motile, elaborate cell that hunts and ingests food.
Slime mold: an example of a mold, a fungus-like protist. Their colonies may seem to crawl as they grow and spread.
Euglena: has chloroplasts, but also an eye spot and a flagellum. Plant + animal characteristics in one organism.
Diatom: an example of algae, plant-like protists. Diatoms produce 20\%-50\% of the Earth's O2.
Giant kelp: a type of seaweed and is also algae.
Diversity in Kingdom Protista: These organisms illustrate wide variation in form and lifestyle, often challenging strict boundaries between kingdoms.

Fungi are eukaryotic organisms and are nearly all multicellular.
They have cell walls that contain chitin, while plants have cellulose.
Fungi are heterotrophs; they cannot make their own food, as they lack chloroplasts.
Kingdom Fungi: Species in this kingdom are assigned to phyla based on their sexual reproductive structures.
Psilocybe azurescens, a mushroom with hallucinogenic properties, is an example provided to illustrate fungal diversity and secondary metabolites.

Plants are multicellular, photosynthetic eukaryotes.
Members of the Plantae kingdom are grouped based on how they carry water: vascular and non-vascular.
There are 3 non-vascular phyla and 9 vascular phyla.
Kingdom Plantae: Plants are very diverse in their structure and life histories, ranging from simple mosses to complex flowering plants.

Animals are eukaryotic, multicellular heterotrophs.
There are 36 recognized animal phyla, of which 9 contain the vast majority of described, existing species.
Animals are grouped into phyla based on the presence or absence of certain structures.
Chimpanzees are one of humans' closest relatives.