Space Adventure

Slime Mold Spores

Kingdom: Protist
Image Courtesy of: Shirley Owens, Center for Electron Optics
Image Width: 45 microns
Image Technology: SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope)

Many types of microorganisms produce spores. Spores serve a function for microbes similar to the role that seeds serve for plants. These spores are the way that this slime mold reproduces. The spores also help the microbe move around; they blow around on the winds, just as many types of seeds do, until they land and "take root" in a new environment.