What is Kingdom Protista in diversity of life?

Members of Kingdom Protista are grouped separately from the other eukaryotic kingdoms because most of the organisms have a unicellular structure, and because many of this group are thought to be the evolutionary ancestors of the three other eukaryotic kingdoms - Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia. As such, organisms in Kingdom Protista vary considerably from each other in their makeup as well as their modes of reproduction and life histories.

Kingdom Protista consists of a diverse assemblage of species: some have chloroplasts and are decidedly plant-like; some are animal-like and ingest food, some have both plant and animal-like characteristics, and some have fungal characteristics! In fact, many of these species were at one time considered to belong to either Kingdom Plantae, or the Kingdom Animalia.

The following is a list of the "plant-like" groups that are classified as protists:

Bacillariophyta - diatoms
Chlorophyta - green algae
Dinoflagellata - dinoflagellates
Euglenophyta - Euglena
Phaeophyta - brown algae
Rhodophyta - red algae

The following is a list of the "animal-like" groups that are classified as protists:

Apicomplexa - sporozoans
Ciliophora - ciliates
Foraminifera - forams
Rhizopoda - amoebas
Zoomastigina - unicellular flagellates
Myxomycota - plasmodial slime molds
Acrasiomycota - cellular slime molds
Oomycota - water molds

We will examine Bacillariophyta (diatoms), Dinoflagellata (dinoflagellates), Phaeophyta (brown algae), Acrasiomycota (plasmodial slime molds),and Myxomycota (cellular slime molds) in further detail.