The last group of protist I’m going to discuss is the fungus-like protists. They are an unique group because they have both single cellular and multicellualr stages. They are heterotrophic they’d have to move at some point of their lives if they want to obtain food. They can act like decomposers where they would break down dead organisms by releasing digestive enzymes into it. Then, it would produce and release materials that are useful to other organisms in the environment. The fungus-like protists includes water molds and slime molds.
Slime molds are single celled protists that live in moist soils, decaying plants, and trees. But when conditions are bad, the single celled organisms would join together and act as a multicellular organism. The protist would form a cluster of cells called sporangia on top of a stalk. The sporangia would then go into a dormant stage while the stalk constantly pushes the cells with its ”foot” until the cells reaches a better condition. That time, the multicellular organism would spilt itself back to its original form.
This is the protist that surprised me the most. The slime molds could join together when times are tough, move to another place and separate again. This showed me the importance and the great power of teamwork and how weak individuals really are.
