Concept explainers
Which of the following statements about protists is False?
- a. Same protists are photosynthetic.
- b. All protists are eukaryotes.
- c. Although protists are diverse, they form a single clade.
- d. Protists include both unicellular and multicellular species.
Introduction:
“Protists” are small unicellular eukaryotes which do not belong to a single clade. They are visible through a microscope and have different forms of reproduction. They have distinct and specific structural and morphological features. The examples include diatoms, dinoflagellates and algae. Algae belong to the category of photosynthetic protists.
Answer to Problem 1MC
Correct answer:
Protists are small eukaryotic organisms which have distinct morphological and structural features. They do not belong to a single clade of classification in the phylogenetic history. Therefore, option (c) is correct.
Option (c) is given as “Although protists are diverse, they form single clade”.
Explanation of Solution
Justify reasons for the correct statement:
Protists belong to different clades and not a single clade as the classification includes many small unicellular eukaryotic organisms like diatoms, dinoflagellates and photosynthetic algae.
Hence, option (c) is correct.
Justify reasons for the incorrect statements:
Option (a) is given as “Some protists are photosynthetic”.
Some photosynthetic protists include species of algae. Hence, it is a wrong answer.
Option (b) is given as “All protists are eukaryotes”.
This is true as protists are small unicellular eukaryotic organisms. Hence, it is a wrong answer.
Option (d) is given as “Protists include both unicellular and multi-cellular species”. Protists are small unicellular organisms with distinct features. Hence, it is a wrong answer.
Hence, options (a), (b), and (d) are incorrect.
The statement about protists that is false is that they are diverse and belong to a single clade. These organisms belong to a different clade in the phylogenetic history. The structural and functional features are also distinct in the different categories of protists.
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Chapter 21 Solutions
Biology
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