Question

The protists obtain their food as
(A) Photosynthesizers only
(B) Chemosynthesizer
(C ) Heterotrophs
(D) Both A and C

Answer 1

Hint: Protists are a vast group of species. They're microscopic and unicellular. Protist cells have a nucleus and organelles. Most protists can be found in damp and saturated environments. They can also be present in tree trunks and other species.

Complete Answer:
- The greatest common characteristic of protists is that they do not belong to any of the other eukaryotic kingdoms. Protists are not plants or animals or fungi. For example, kelp or algae tend to have leaves and roots like plants, but do not have the same specialised tissues. It is classified both as a plant and an animal because they use both autotrophic and heterotrophic types of food.
- To remain alive, all species need to obtain organic carbon and energy. There are a lot of ways in which protists get both carbon and energy. Some protists are autotrophic and are capable of producing nutrients such as glucose-containing organic carbon.
- Other protists are heterotrophic and do not produce nutrient-containing carbon of their own. By eating other animals or other decaying organic matter in the ecosystem, heterotrophic protists receive the carbon-containing nutrients. They trap the sunshine and conduct photosynthesis in the presence of light. They use the heterotrophic mode of nutrition in the absence of light.
- There are several ways for heterotrophic protists to get nutrients from the environment. Others have specialised mechanisms built to receive calories, while others are passive and have to wait for their plasma membrane to come into contact with the nutrients.

So the answer is option D.

Note: Autotrophs are species that prepare their own food by the mechanism of photosynthesis, while heterotrophs are organisms which could not prepare their own food and rely on autotrophs for nutrition. Plants, algae are examples for autotrophs and bacteria, fungi, yeast, cows, dogs and humans are examples for heterotrophs.