Protistology is a scientific discipline devoted to the study of protists, a highly diverse group of eukaryotic organisms. Its field of study overlaps with more traditional disciplines of phycology, mycology, and protozoology, just as protists, which, being a paraphyletic group embrace algae, some organisms regarded previously as primitive fungi, and protozoa ("animal" motile protists lacking chloroplasts).
Contents
History
As the term "protozoology" has become dated as our understanding of the evolutionary relationships of the eukaryotes has improved, the term "protistology" become more common. For example, the Society of Protozoloogists, founded in 1947, was renamed International Society of Protistologists in 2005. However, the older term persists in some cases (e.g., the Polish journal Acta Protozoologica).
Journals and societies
Dedicated academic journals include:
Other less specialized journals, important to protistology before the appearance of the more specialized:
Some societies:
Notable protistologists (sorted by alphabetical order of surnames)
The field of protistology was idealized by Haeckel, but its widespread recognition is more recent. In fact, many of the researchers cited below considered themselves as protozoologists, phycologists, mycologists, microbiologists, microscopists, parasitologists, limnologists, biologists, naturalists, zoologists, botanists, etc., but made significant contributions to the field.