What are slime molds?
Q: What are slime molds?
A: Slime molds, or slime molds, are forms of life which live on the rainforest floor and many other parts of the world. They slither over ground and fallen tree trunks in search of food.
Q: How do they reproduce?
A: Slime moulds scatter spores, like plants, which grow into new slime moulds. They also form a multicellular organism which reproduces and makes spores when a chemical signal is released.
Q: What features do they have?
A: Slime moulds have some features of fungi and some features of protozoa. The single cells are amoeboid (amoeba-like) and haploid (one set of chromosomes, like our gametes). The multi-nuclear stage is called a plasmodium which is diploid, formed from fusions between pairs of amoeboid cells.
Q: Who discussed this life-form first?
A: Anton de Bary discussed this life-form in 1858.
Q: How does the plasmodium gain nutrition?
A: The plasmodium gains nutrition by phagocytosing bacteria and food particles.
Q: What happens when the food supply fades?
A: When the food supply fades, the plasmodium makes haploid cells by meiosis, and they form the basis of spores which are kept and then distributed from a structure like a sporangium.
Q: Which group does this lifecycle belong to?
A: This life cycle belongs to the main group called Mycetozoa.
