was anyone here taught in school that protists are one of the kingdoms of life

Submitted by ___ in just_post

i was and apparently they aren't anymore. this makes me feel sad lol

or well apparently it depends on the definition and there appear to be all sorts of different phylogenetic systems?? so maybe the whittaker model is still being taught in the us i'm not sure

but apparently the most common definition now is any unicellular eukaryote. so i guess that means the closest equivalent is the kingdom Protozoa but that also either exists or doesn't depending on the classification scheme so idk!

also apparently brits teach a system that includes the kingdom of Monera and i have never heard of that in my life. that appears to be the equivalent of Archaebacteria and Eubacteria??

😮‍💨

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neku wrote (edited )

I had to go back into my notes to check but here in New Zealand, I was taught the Whitaker model (Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia). I've literally never heard of archae-/eubacteria in my life haha. That said my lecturer was basically like "taxonomists are always fighting over everything so don't worry about it too much." I do remember them talking about domains more than kingdoms though.

The definition they gave for protista was unicellular and colonial eukaryotes, giving protozoans and fungi as examples

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Dogmantra wrote

I was not taught a three kingdom model if I remember correctly, plants, animals, and protists.

I imagine it was just one of those "let's not tell kids the actual truth because it's too complicated" things that I do not particularly care for.

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Moonside wrote

It changed over time. In primary school I was taught animal, plant and fungi kingdoms, with protists and bacteria being outsiders and not classified in any particularway. In high school it was three domains of archaea, bacteria and eucaryotes and eucaryotes contained the three kingdoms of animals, plants and fungi, with allusions made toward the fact that fungi and animals were somewhat closely related. Protists were understood to be a varied group.

That said the messiness of not being a kingdom makes protists more interesting rather than less to me.

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