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Justify the claim that photosynthetic protists are among the biosphere’s most important organisms.

Short Answer

Expert verified

Photosynthetic protists are important elements of both aquatic as well as terrestrial ecosystems. These organisms are referred to as autotrophs because they use carbon dioxide and energy from the sunlight to produce food.

They are beneficial to all ecosystems as they provide food and produce oxygen that is essential for survival.

Step by step solution

01

Protists

Protists are eukaryotic organisms. These can be unicellular and multicellular. The nucleus houses the genetic material called DNA. These organisms are found living in aquatic habitats or damp places.

02

Protists as photosynthetic organisms

Protists are producers that can perform photosynthesis. Photosynthesis increases due to a rise in the concentration of organic compounds like nitrogen and phosphorous in the habitat. They are added due to the extensive use of fertilizers.

03

Role of protists in the ecosystem

Protists are important components of the biosphere as they perform about 20% of photosynthesis.These protists are found at the base of the food web; hence they help maintain a balance in the aquatic ecosystem by providing food and oxygen essential for their survival, thereby helping the ecosystem.

These organisms also form mutualistic and parasitic associations with other organisms underwater. It creates a dynamic balancing between the number of organisms.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

WHAT IF? DNA sequence data for a diplomonad, a euglenid, a plant, and an unidentified protist suggest that the unidentified species is most closely related to the diplomonad. Further studies reveal that the unknown species has fully functional mitochondria. Based on these data, at what point on the phylogenetic tree in Figure 28.2 did the mystery protist’s lineage probably diverge from other eukaryote lineages? Explain

DRAW IT Medical researchers seek to develop drugs that can kill or restrict the growth of human pathogens yet have few harmful effects on patients. These drugs often work by disrupting the metabolism of the pathogen or by targeting its structural features. Draw and label a phylogenetic tree that includes an ancestral prokaryote and the following groups of organisms: Excavata, SAR, Archaeplastida, Unikonta, and, within Unikonta, amoebozoans, animals, choanoflagellates, fungi, and nucleariids. Based on this tree, hypothesize whether it would be most difficult to develop drugs to combat human pathogens that are prokaryotes, protists, animals, or fungi. (You do not need to consider the evolution of drug resistance by the pathogen.)

Biologists think that endosymbiosis gave rise to mitochondria before plastids partly because

(A) the products of photosynthesis could not be metabolized without mitochondrial enzymes.

(B) all eukaryotes have mitochondria (or their remnants), whereas many eukaryotes do not have plastids.

(C) mitochondrial DNA is less similar to prokaryotic DNA than is plastid DNA.

(D) without mitochondrial CO2 production, photosynthesis could not occur.

Which group is incorrectly paired with its description?

(A) diatoms—important producers in aquatic communities

(B) red algae—eukaryotes that acquired plastids by secondary endosymbiosis

(C) apicomplexans—unicellular parasites with intricate life cycles

(D) diplomonads—unicellular eukaryotes with modified mitochondria.

In a life cycle with alternation of generations, multicellular haploid forms alternate with

(A) unicellular haploid forms

(B) unicellular diploid forms

(C) multicellular haploid forms

(D) multicellular diploid forms.

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