Protist Kingdom: What is, characteristics, classification and examples

The protist kingdom or protoctists appeared as the third of the five great kingdoms of living beings of nature:

• Animalia or animals kingdom
• The plant plant or vegetables
• The Protist Kingdom or the Protistas
• The Fungi Kingdom or Fungi
• The Monera or Mónera kingdom

But what does the protist kingdom include exactly? This kingdom includes all those Unicellular and multicellular eukaryotic organisms with intermediate anatomical and functional characteristics Between plants and animals.

Going unnoticed and being great unknown of the incredible biodiversity that hides nature, the protists They fill with micro and macroscopic life Many of the corners of the planet, from fresh and salted water ecosystems, as well as on wet earth and, even, as animal parasites. In the next sections we will know with more details of these mysterious and fascinating organisms, the protists.

• These are eukaryotic organisms: With a nucleus delimited by a membrane, lacking differentiated vegetative tissues, except in those structures for the reproduction process. If you want to know more about the difference between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell, do not hesitate to read this article that we recommend.
• Its size is very variable: From unicellular microscopic forms to multicellular organisms several meters in length.
• They live in a wide variety of places: The soil, fresh water, ocean bottom, decomposition organic matter, etc.
• All possible nutrition models are exhibited: Autotroph (phototrophic) and heterotrophic, through phagotrophic, saprobiotic or parasitic strategies.
• They have a wide variety of types of locomotion: through flagella, cilia and pseudopods; although there are also numerous species that lack mobility. Many organisms are free life, while others have symbiotic relationships (mutualists, diners or parasites).
• Some species develop cysts: That is, some species of the protist kingdom have developed the amazing ability to form, during their life cycles, resistance structures called cysts in periods of unfavorable conditions such as lack of water and food. This serves to survive in a state of latency (stopping their metabolic functions), until more favorable conditions for reproduction and survival arrive. In addition, they are able to form spores in those stages of the life cycle that guarantees their multiplication and propagation.
• They have different reproductive strategies: such as asexual reproduction through mitosis, bipartition, geming or multiple division; as well as sexual reproductive activity with mitotic and meiotic processes. Learn more about these reproductive processes with this other article on asexual reproduction: what is, types and examples.
  

The complex and diverse characteristics of the protists or protoctists make their classification one of the most difficult and convoluted of the evolution of living beings. Many have been the scientists who throughout history have tried to determine a classification for the protist kingdom as successful as possible.

At present, the different protists are classified in the following supergroups:

• Amebozoa: amoebas, mucilaginous molds and myxomicettes.
• Archaeplastida: red algae (Rhodophyta).
• Excavata: Flagellated organisms of the Euglenozo and Percozoa groups.
• Stramenopiles: brown algae, diatomas, crisophiles and xantofíceas.
• Alveolata: Ciliated, Dinoflagellated and Apicomplexes.
• Rhizaria: Foraminiferous microorganisms, radio and fence.
• OPISTHOKONTA: metazoa with differentiated fabrics, fungi, coanoflagelladas and Mesomycetozoa.

In the next section we will see some examples of the protist kingdom to learn better what name and appearance these mysterious living beings have.

Some of the main genera and species most representative of the protist kingdom are:

• Laminaria Digitata: large laminar brown algae, reaches two meters in length.
• Sargassum genre: Known as “Sargazo”, it is a brown macroalga of several meters in length.
• Genus Chlamydomonas: Unicellular green algae of fresh water.
• Ulva Gender: “sea lettuce” algae.
• Trypanosoma Cruzi: It produces bad of Chagas.
• Entamoeba histolytica: Intestinal parasite.
• Balantidium coli: It produces Balantidian dysentery.
• Paramecium caudatum: free life protozoan.
• Plasmodium Vivax: It produces malaria.
• Giardia Lamblia: It is an intestinal parasite.
• Trichomonas vaginalis: It is a vaginal parasite.

With the following list of examples of the protist kingdom you can see images of the true protist organisms.

The diverse kingdom of protists told, since its origin, with great importance within the world of scientific taxonomy and biology, among other branches of science.

Although at present, articles and studies mention it as the protist kingdom (“primordial”), the scientist Margulis tried to grant them the importance they deserved through the choice of the name of “protoctist kingdom” (from the Greek “First creatures”), highlighting its relevance in the knowledge of the evolution of living beings. As we have discovered in the previous sections of this article, the protists play a really important role in:

• The operation of different ecosystems
• The world of medicine: since many of these organisms are the cause of some of the most dangerous diseases that affect human beings.

Now that you know more depth the protist kingdom, do not hesitate to take a look at the following video about The 5 Kingdoms of Nature that house all living beings on the planet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs34sny_p4o

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