Fungi are not autotrophs, they have no chloroplasts, they can only use the energy stored in organic compounds. This distinguishes fungi from plants.

Plant protists-The plant protists are autotrophs as members of diatoms, unicellular prokaryotic algae, etc.

Classification of Protists

• Protozoa (animal-like protists) are heterotrophs that ingest or absorb their food and helps.
• Algae (plant-like protists) are autotrophs they get nutrition from photosythesis.
• Slime moulds and water moulds (fungus-like protists) are also heterotrophs, like protozoa.

Plants are a common example of autotrophs. Fungus-like protists are similar to fungi how? They are protists that absorb their food from dead organic matter.

The three types of fungus-like protists are slime molds, water molds, and downy mildews.

Examples of fungus-like protists include slime molds and water molds.

They eat bacteria, yeast, and small bits of decaying plant and animal matter. They eat by surrounding particles and then they digest them.

Lesson Summary

• Animal-like protists are called protozoa. Most consist of a single cell.
• Plant-like protists are called algae. They include single-celled diatoms and multicellular seaweed.
• Fungus-like protists are molds. They are absorptive feeders, found on decaying organic matter.

A. Types

• Red Algae. a. Group containing most of the world’s seaweeds. b.
• Brown Algae. a. The algae that live in colder climates are mostly brown algae. b.
• Green Algae. a. They are green because the chlorophyll is the main pigment they have. b.
• Diatoms. a. Singlecellular. b.
• Dinoflagellates. a. Most are single cell. b.
• Euglenoids.

Kelp is like a plant – it is photosynthetic and has structures that look like roots (the kelp holdfast), stems (the stipe) and leaves (blades)– but kelp and other algae belong to a separate kingdom of life from plants, called protists.

Though it resembles a tall grass, giant kelp is not a plant. Instead, it is a brown alga and is part of the large kingdom of life known as the Protista. Most protists are single-celled organisms, but the giant kelp is a complex species and is the largest protist in the world.

patens. Mosses are non-vascular plants with about 12,000 species classified in the Bryophyta. Unlike vascular plants, mosses lack xylem and absorb water and nutrients mainly through their leaves. Genome duplication seems to have contributed to the expanded gene number in Physcomitrella.

So, what’s the difference? In short, a moss is a simple plant, and a lichen is a fungi-algae sandwich. Mosses are multicellular organisms with leaflets made of photosynthetic cells, just as with trees, ferns and wildflowers.

Mosses, unlike fungi, are plants. They are typically small – from 1 – 10 cm – although they can be larger. They don’t have flowers or seeds, but they do produce spores, as fungi do. Mosses don’t have roots; they absorb water and nutrients through their leaves.

To further confuse matters, some organisms with the name “moss,” such as Irish moss, are in fact types of algae. However, true moss and algae are two distinct species with different characteristics. Mosses include 12,000 separate species, while algae are a group of organisms.

In nature, molds are decomposers to recycle nature’s organic wastes. In medicine, they are the producers of antibiotics. Fungi are a glomeration of organisms in a separate taxanomic kingdom, in which they differ from Monera (Bacteria), Protista (single-cell eucaryotes mostly), Plants and Animals.

Algae are mainly marine and freshwater plants. Mosses are mainly terrestrial plants. Algae can be floating or attached to the bottom of the water basins or other substrates by special cells, while all mosses are attached to the substrate. Some algae are used in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Primitive bryophytes like mosses and liverworts are so small that they can rely on diffusion to move water in and out of the plant. Their flagellated sperm must swim through water to reach the egg. So mosses and liverworts are restricted to moist habitats.

Mosses reproduce by spores, which are analogous to the flowering plant’s seed; however, moss spores are single celled and more primitive than the seed. Mosses also spread asexually by sending out new shoots in the spring from last years plants as well as fragmentation.

Is it Dangerous to Humans? Blue green algae presents a risk to humans who are directly exposed to, or consume the algae. Symptoms can include skin/mucosa irritation, flu-like symptoms, and gastrointestinal illness. Severe cases could include seizures, liver failure, respiratory arrest-even death, although this is rare.