MINI

ORGANISMS:
THE
TARDIGRADE
what is a tardigrade?
also known as water bears, are a phylum of
small invertebrates. They're short, plump,
and covered in a tough cuticle (similar to
that of grasshoppers and other insects).
They have four pairs of legs, each of which
ends in four to eight claws.Their specialized
mouthpart allows them to feed on the fluids
of plant cells, animal cells, and bacteria.
They are prey to amoebas, nematodes, and
other tardigrades.
Where do they live?
They are aquatic, which means that they need
to be surrounded by water to live. Some species
lives in bodies of water like oceans, seas,
lakes...because tardigrades are so small, they
stay in places where they can't be swept away
by a strong current. They're found between
grains of sand , among algae or anywhere that's
wet or contains water.
the life span of a tardigrade
and the tun stage
Tardigrades typically live for only a few months
when fully active. When short on water, they may
curl up in a ball, entering the tun state. In this state, Active
a tardigrade grows a glass-like protective coating
and slows its metabolism to 0.01 percent of the
usual rate. A tardigrade can survive for centuries
like this. Tardigrades are easy to kill if they're not in
the tun stage. As tuns water bears can endure
radiation, extreme pressure, and extreme heat and
cold, including temperature near absolute 0
Tun state
what can they survive?
during the tun state tardigrades have been
known to survive:
1)Low temperatures of 0.05 kelvins (-272.95
degrees Celsius)
2)High temperatures of 150 degrees Celsius
3)Pressures of 40,000 kilopascals
4)The burning ultraviolet radiation of space
5)Being shot from a high-speed gun (traveling
at nearly 3,000 feet per second)
6)Being stored in a freezer for 30 years
Tun state"cryptobiosis"
Though tardigrades can be found in moss Once, when dried moss
and lichens, they are still a truly aquatic that had been in a
animal,They require a film of water to museum for a hundred
surround their bodies to allow them to take years was moistened,
in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. tardigrades inside the
Without this, they start to dry out, stop moss came crawling out,
metabolising, and curl up into a desiccated alive and well !
form known as a "tun." The incredible thing
is that at the faintest whiff of water, they
immediately bounce back into their original
metabolising state.
water bears hunt!!!
1) Collect a clump of moss or lichen (dry or wet) and
place in a shallow dish, such as a Petri dish.
2) Soak in water (preferably rainwater or distilled
water) for 3-24 hours.
3) Remove and discard excess water from the dish.
4) Shake or squeeze the moss/lichen clumps over
another transparent dish to collect trapped water.
5) Starting on a low objective lens, examine the water
using a stereo microscope.
6) Use a micropipette to transfer tardigrades to a
slide, which can be observed with a higher power
under a compound microscope
thank you for listening :D!!
nada al-saffar