A Protist Research Paper

Protists are an eclectic group of eukaryotic organisms. Imagine the creatures belonging to the other eukaryotic kingdoms telling protists, “You can’t sit at our table,” so the protists start their own club. Although protists don’t belong to the plant, animal, or fungi club, they still share many characteristics with other eukaryotic life forms. What makes a protists a protists is the fact that it cannot be placed into any of the other kingdoms physically or genetically. For instance, the plant-like protists aren’t enough like plants to be one.

The characteristic that makes algal protists (algae) plant like is the ability to do photosynthesis. Similar to plants, plant-like protists have __chloroplasts__ that contain the pigment chlorophyll, which collects and converts light into energy. In addition to green, algal protists may be red, brown, or gold; their colors come from the presence pigments that mask the green of chlorophyll found in chloroplasts.
It can be understood why microscopic plant-like would not be invited to sit at the plant table because they are little and they can swim. When was the last time that you have seen a tiny swimming tree? You may have seen seaweed growing in the ocean or in aquariums. Seaweeds have “leaves”, “stems”, and “roots”, but they are still not allowed at plant club meetings. Why are
If you have seen pond scum growing in freshwater, it is likely that it was caused by multicellular algae. Like unicellular plant-like protists, multicellular algae can be large or small. __Colonial algae__ are groups of algae embedded in an ECM that can form a variety of shapes, including structures s like leaves, roots, and stems. ‘Volvox’ are an example of microscopic colonial algae that resemble a ball. ‘Ulva’ look like a plant, but no matter how hard ‘Ulva’ try, it is just a big group of algal cells stuck in slime just like the