Organisms of the Gila Wilderness-- Slime Molds

"Slime Molds" is a name applied to a polyphyletic group of Protists. These amoeba-like organisms seem to act as single cells or as a multicellular organism depending on environmental conditions. They are neither plants nor fungi, perhaps more closely related to animals than to most other groups. The two most common types of slime mold are the plasmodial slime molds that exhibit spectacular cytoplasmic streaming, and the cellular slime molds in which individual cells aggregate as "slugs".