Tardigrades: The Toughest Animals On The Planet

SnoLab is studying these effects on various organisms in two phases. The first phase is the effects of radiation absence on lake whitefish embryos. They chose these embryos because of their development period and the easy nature of raising them. The embryos are kept in two fridges of different temperature both underground and above ground to set control groups. They found that the embryos raised above ground had a lower mortality rate than the ones underground. However, the ones underground grew faster and bigger. This is a new topic of research that SnoLab is continuing to

Adaptive radiation of different organisms have occurred throughout geological time through the filling of ecological niches. Organisms different from one another are capable of radiating greatly, as they evolve traits that allow them to thrive better in their environment. The Anolis lizards of the Caribbean islands are a great example of a single genus to have radiated not once, but multiple times through very similar mechanisms. Different populations of the Anolis phenotypically vary in their morphological traits to facilitate adaptation to particular niches. These phenotypic variations have evolved in convergence in more than one occasion, as recently discovered fossil specimens show similar patterns in morphology to modern Anolis.

The second grade of primates evolved about 53 million years ago, in Eocene epoch. There are five tarsier species that all live in the islands of Southeast Asia, where they inhabit from tropical forest to backyard gardens (Jurmain, et al, 2011). They are considered to be closely related to lemurs and lorises (prosimian family) for the several traits that they share with Grade I primates while having some anthropoid features as well. However, tarsiers have distinctive characteristics that isolate them from other primates. They are categorized as the smallest creatures among the primate species and they are well known for their enormous eyes which is as large as its brain. They are normally nocturnal insectivores but sometimes carnivorous. They catch insects by jumping at them and as they jump from tree to tree, they even hunt for birds while in motion.

Imagine finding a creature that people believed went extinct 21 years ago. Scientists believed that the crested gecko disappeared from the earth forever, however they discovered not one, but dozens in the deep jungles of New Caledonia off the coast of Australia, but how did these geckos survive? They managed to survive by responding to their environment, getting energy, reproducing, exchanging gases, and moving.

When the creatures still managed to reanimate after thawing, the team looked for physical qualities that might explain this superior resilience. It found that the Alaskan frogs stockpile astonishing amounts of a complex sugar called glycogen in their livers, which grow 1.5-fold relative to body mass as the amphibians prepare for winter. “This frog is like a walking liver,” says zoologist Jon Costanzo of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, who led the research. The liver later converts this glycogen to glucose, a known cryoprotectant that quickly gets distributed to all the cells in the body when temperatures drop. The Alaskan frogs also accumulated about three times as much of the cryoprotectant urea in their blood plasma compared with frogs

Astraspis was one of the earliest fish of all time. It lacked fins and had a poorly evolved tail, making it a horrible swimmer. Its lack of fins and related lack of movement ability would have made it an easy target for Ordovician carnivores such as eurypterids and orthocones.

When most of us think of asphalt or tar, our minds wonder to the roads that our cars drive on. Asphalt may appear to be an ordinary everyday thing we see and pay little to no attention to but, in reality, it may hold a treasure of information on Earth’s past history. In Hancock Park, Los Angeles, CA it does just that. The La Brea Tar Pits were formed during the Pleistocene era over 40,000 years ago and have supplied most of the fossils found during that era in the world (Polly, 1994). Many well-known extinct mammal species are found in these tar pits, such as the Mammoth and the Sabre-tooth cat. Even trees have been found in the tar pits, the largest fossil being a California Juniper Tree (The Natural History Foundation , n.d.). We will take

C.K Williams poem “Tar” places a heavy emphasis on the personal experience of the narrator during the events of the 1979 partial nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island. Williams uses an extended metaphor to explain the overwhelming event and his own emotions related to it. He parallels the events of the meltdown to those that are taking place at the same time in his personal life. The tar used to work on his roofing is the equivalent of the leaked radioactive gasses and iodine. “The stuff looks bland, like licorice, spill it, though, on your boots or coveralls, it sears and everything is permeated with it.”

The genus Tarsius of which we have fossils from the Middle Eocene in China, the Early Miocene in northwestern Thailand, and the Middle Miocene in northern Thailand, allow us to compare ancient characters with many modern extant tarsiers. Tarsiers are subject to high levels of predation as they inhabit a specific biotope and are subject to avian predators as well as ground dwelling species (Řeháková-Petru, Peške, and Daněk 2012).

Thye can be found universally in nearly every temperate climate under natural debris. Terrestrial isopods do not contain a waxy cuticle on their exoskeleton, making them more susceptible to suffer water loss through their water permeable exoskeleton. A. vulgare uses the permeable exoskeleton to also excrete one form of nitrogenous waste, while the other form is excreted through ammonia using the alimentary canal. Ammonia excretion causes great water loss but expends minimal energy. A. vulgare have walking legs that are located underneath the body as opposed to the sides, and have a shorter telson than other terrestrial isopods.

Fossils show that tardigrade has been around for the past 530 million years, and it has managed to survive through all five mass extinction events that the world has seen. With the ability to halt their metabolism for decades at a time tardigrade have an impressive way to survive. Cryptobiosis has yet another less expected benefit for the tardigrade. When in its dehydrated form the organism's DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) breaks down into smaller fragments. As the organism rehydrates its nucleus isn't fully formed and is susceptible to taking in foreign DNA. Sequencing tardigrades genome has revealed that roughly 17 percent of its DNA comes from other organisms like bacteria, plants, fungi and archaea. This horizontal gene transfer like all mutations is a random process and not all mutations will be beneficial but it is strongly suspected this explains the extremophile nature of the tardigrade. (Mcdonald, 2015)

The most intriguing living organism on this planet is the Tardigrade. These invincible creatures have been around half a billion years, and will most likely outlast humans. What allowed the Tardigrade to survive all 5 mass extinctions?

Tardigrades are also known as waterbears or moss piglets. They are called water bears because of the way they walk that is similar to a bar. They are a water micro. The body consists a head 3 body segments, 4 pairs of legs for each and each leg consists 4-8 claws. They kind of look like a caterpillar/pig/bear. Tardigrade also means slow stepper. Tardigrades are also found everywhere from mountain tops, deep sea, tropical rain forests and generally Antarctica. Generally, they can be found by soaking moss in H₂0. They are also well known for being a resilient animal. Tardigrades can survive extreme conditions like -458℉/-272℃ or 300℉/150℃. They can also survive without food or water for 30 years, but they dry out 3% or less water. Tardigrades

Tardigrades: the durable wonder of the animal kingdom. These nearly indestructible, microscopic organisms can be found just about anywhere in the world either in water or on moss and lichen plantation(1) Even though tardigrades prefer to live in a moist environment or on the surface of plants, they are not picky. Tardigrades are able to survive in the vacuum of space of space as well temperatures ranging from -200°C to 151°C.(2). There have been over 1,000 described species since this organism was discovered back in 1773 and there are more being discovered all the time.(3) The question is, are tardigrades living or nonliving?

According to Charles Darwin, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, or the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”, (Brainy Quotes) pertains to Pat Franks Alas, Babylon, all of the characters are forced to change and adapt to the new life after a nuclear attack. They are forced to fight for survival and find new sources of food and also the most basic necessity, water. The main character Randy Bragg, is forced to take charge of his small community that is made up of his close neighbors, but he also instructed by the government to set up a makeshift law because he is in the reserves. This book was written when racial equality was a major issue and Randy’s neighbors are African American, in a nice area of Florida called Fort Repose. The black family, The Henry’s, were originally slaves for Randy’s ancestors and had bought just four acres at the east boundary of the Bragg’s grove. Randy feels confident about having black neighbors and how they work together to improve both of their lives in the process of working together. Randy and all of his neighbors, include his black neighbors, work together to improve their life after the nuclear attack and survive from day to day. Randy’s brother, Mark, wife and children are sent to live with Randy as soon as his brother hears that a nuclear attack is coming. They use the code words Alas, Babylon to communicate that an attack is coming and his family is coming down to Florida. You will see in the book