Question

you are out exploring tide pool with friends and you come across an organism living near the water,it is small, light,green and has two Leaf like structures. one friend thinks it is a protist and another thinks is a plant. luckily you both have access to any type of material and experimental Technologies to determine which type of organism it is.

your task is to describe four pieces of evidence you would collect to be more certain of organisms classification or plant or protists . how would these four pieces of evidence inform your final hypothesis?

Answer 1

Before moving on to evidence we would collect, first let us discuss the difference between plants and Protist

• Protists include a variety of eukaryotes that are not necessarily closely related. Plants belong to the same Kingdom and originate from a common ancestor.
• Protists can be multicellular or unicellular organisms. Plants are all multicellular and exhibit cellular differentiation.
• Protists can be autotrophs, heterotrophic consumers, or decomposers. Plants are primarily autotrophic producers.
• Protists may be aerobic or anaerobic. Plants are mainly aerobic.
• Many protists have cellular structures that enable locomotion of the organism. Plants are stationary.
• Protists reproduce by mitosis or meiosis. Plants reproduce by meiosis (via pollination) or by vegetative reproduction.
• Protists are restricted to aqueous habitats. Plant species may be aquatic or terrestrial.

Hence Following evidence will be enough to decide whether it is a plant,organism or protist:

1. Is it multicellular or unicellular

2. Whether it is stationery or it can move.

3. Whether it is aquatic or terrestrial.

4. Whether it is autotrophic or hetrotrophic