Protists in science communication

Despite their high abundance and wide distribution in ecosystems, most protists remain unknown to the public. Although science communication approaches were developed in historical times to raise public awareness oJ these ‘enigmatic— taxa, many aspects have not been considered in the spotlight oJ modern techniques. We present selected ideas and activities on how to attract the public to unicellular eukaryotes. We give examples oJ how protists can be included in educational work. We explain that trained non-experts can understand and teach others how to recognize protists, where they live, in which habitats they can be Jound, what they look like and why they are important. Consequently, members oJ the public can learn how environmental threats impact not only the lives oJ protists but also ours, e.g., by the accumulation oJ microplastics through an aquatic Jood web, up to Osh used Jor human consumption. We suggest age-appropriate methods Jor application in workshops on protist recognition.