What features distinguish protists from other life forms?
The most diverse group of organisms in this classification system is found among the Protists. This group contains plant-like, animal-like, and fungus-like organisms. This grouping is not based on evolutionary relationships but is more a grouping of convenience — the protists are the eukaryotes that aren’t plants, animals, or fungi. This may seem to violate the precision that seems important in a classification system, but this is what has been used historically and is commonly taught in K-6 classrooms and beyond. There will likely be changes in this grouping as the science of classification progresses. The majority of organisms classified as protists are unicellular though there are a few multicellular organisms. For example, kelp (“seaweed”) is technically a protist even though it is multicellular. Kelp is not grouped with plants, however, because it lacks the cellular complexity present in plant cells. There are also “colonial protists,” which are aggregates of individual cells of t