Protists can be one-celled organisms or multicellular organisms. There are protists that are plant-like, such as algae. Many organisms world wide eat algae as a food source. These plant like protists are able to undergo the process of photosynthesis and produce their own food, a simple sugar called glucose. There are many animal-like protists as well. The amoeba is a popular protist that gets around by the use of pseudopods, or false feet. The paramecium is a protist that resembles a shoe sole, or a foot print on a beach. The paramecium moves by the use of multiple cilia around its cell membrane. Some protists are fungus-like in nature, such as the slime mold. All these protists exist in wet, damp conditions and serve as a source of nutrition for larger multicellular organisms. Some protists, like plasmodium, can cause sickness and disease. Plasmodium is transferred by mosquito bite, and causes malaria.
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