Protists are photosynthetic organisms that are responsible for providing food to a large fraction of world's animals and organisms. They share a symbiotic relationship with corals. In this arrangement, protists provide food to the corals and this enables the corals to secrete compounds necessary for making the skeleton. The corals provide protected environment for the protists and also provide nutrients for carrying out photosynthesis. Other species are also capable of feeding on protists. In fact, protists themselves may eat each other, for example, amoeba and ciliates can feed on other protists. Since protists can carry out photosynthesis, while some others can eat protists (and some bacteria as well), protists are both a producer and 1st level consumer in a given food web.
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