RUI: A Survey of the Moss Dwelling Tardigrades of China

Baker University, Baldwin City KS

Investigators

Abstract

RUI: A SURVEY OF THE MOSS DWELLING TARDIGRADES OF CHINA William R. Miller, Clark Beasley, and Marshall Crosby Tardigrades or water bears are small moss dwelling animals that exhibit cryptobiosis, the remarkable ability to withstand extreme heat, cold, pressure and other severe environmental conditions. Generally less than 1 mm in length, the slow moving tardigrade resembles a cute miniature bear or caterpillar. They are found on every continent in the moisture trapped by moss, lichen, soil, or marine sediments. Their cryptobiotic life stage has been defined as the reversible suspension of metabolism and may last for decades. While desiccated in cryptobiosis, tardigrades have been experimentally subjected to temperatures between -272 C and +150 C, to 6000 atmospheres of pressure, to complete vacuum, to high radiation, to common gases, and still they returned to an active life stage. These results kindle both physiological and evolutionary speculation, including the possible ability of the animal to be transported through space. Yet, the ecological requirements and life cycles of tardigrades remain little known. They are suspected of being carried around the world by the winds, but their global distributional patterns are very incomplete. For example, only 47 out of 950+ described species of tardigrades have been reported as occurring in China. By comparison over 500 species are known to occur upwind in Europe. Although water bears are often abundant, their contribution to the life web of the planet is still a mystery. This project will develop undergraduate research teams at Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA, and McMurry University, Abilene, TX. The teams will conduct a survey of the tardigrades of China, and over four years, more than 20 student researchers will collect, identify and publish in the project. First, the teams will extract tardigrades from the 10,000 moss samples collected by the Missouri Botanical Garden in their NSF-funded "Moss Flora of China" project. Second, the teams will conduct an expedition to China in collaboration with a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and collect 2000 additional samples. Finally, the teams will work at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia to build and document a voucher collection. The teams will contribute to the understanding of global diversity by adding possibly as many as 300 species of tardigrades to our knowledge of the Chinese fauna. Our students will probably discover and describe many new and endemic species. We will expand the understanding of the ecological requirements of the animals and test several hypotheses relative to local, regional, and global distributional and spatial patterns. The data will be added to the new Tardigrade Reference Center web site for tardigrade education and research. The ultimate product will be a data based, digital, and printable catalogue to the Tardigrades of China, complete with descriptions, images, identification keys, geo-referencing, and bibliography. Such a reference resource will aid taxonomists, ecologists, biogeographers, teachers, and students all over the world who will be able to use tardigrades in assessment studies, education, experiments, and discovery.