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Tardigrades

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Wtf is a tardigrade?” and I fully expect you to not understand what it is.

A tardigrade, or water bear or moss bear, is a microscopic animal that lives in moist environments and is virtually indestructible.

Indestructible? You’re making this up! I can assure you I am not!  First, check out this gif:

Behold, a naked biped!!

Jk, it’s a tardigrade! Now, these things are herbivores and cause no known health problems to humans, so they are completely harmless. Yet, they are the most resilient animal known as they can survive without water for decades, withstand the crushing pressure that is found at the deepest parts of the ocean, withstand high levels of radiation, and even survive in the harsh vacuum of space! A team of Japanese scientists even thawed a group of tardigrades that were frozen for 30 years! And the tardigrades woke up and began going about business as if not being frozen for 30 years.

When I say “indestructible,” I quite literally mean indestructible.

While tardigrades are extremely resilient, they are still living creatures and must expire at some point. Ironically for the majority of tardigrades, this is a short few months, maximum 2.5 years.

How in the hell can an animal that is so indestructible only live for so long? 

Let me walk you through the science of this. :)

So there are thousands of species of tardigrades. Each one possessing different adaptations that allows them to survive different conditions better than others. Some live on the deep ocean floor, others in hot springs, some are frozen in glaciers. But what adaptation allows all of them to survive these conditions?

When a tardigrade is faced with an extremely hostile environment, they tuck their legs in, expel all moisture from the bodies, reduce their metabolism by 99.99%, and produce an organic molecule called glycerol and another molecule known as trehalose. The desiccated body of the tardigrade is now called a tun. The glycerol in the tun acts as an antifreeze, something that many other organisms do as well (like frogs), and keeps the tun from completely frozen. Trehalose is secreted from the tun and encases it, creating a glassy cocoon-like structure that protects the tun and keeps it in the glycerol.

On the left is a tardigrade just wondering about, and on the right is the tun.

How do they revert back to their original state and out of their tun state?

Just add water and wait :)

I hope you really enjoyed this post! I enjoyed writing it up and looking up the information to learn a little more about these amazing animals. I really recommend looking more into these animals if you would like. A simple Google search will provide dozens of other websites that have gone through the trouble of reading the science articles so you don’t have to. 

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Frogs

Hello again!

So I’m doing something different than trees and going to talk to the lot of you about frogs!

This is a picture of a Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens) that is found in a wide range across North America from Canada to reports down in Panama.

Frogs are amphibians, they live on land and in the water, and often require moist and humid environments to survive. Some exceptions to this are toads which often have rough-textured, leathery, dry skin that keeps that from drying out as easily as most other frogs.

*Fun fact: Although commonly believed, toads are frogs! You can totally call a toad a frog, but don’t call a frog a toad. Here is a small family tree of the class Anura (Frogs):

While the order Bufonidae (toads) fall under the class Anura, there are still anurans that are actual frogs and not toads. Toads = frogs but frogs =/= toads

What is so special about frogs? Well, other than the fact that they are my favorite group of animals, besides tardigrades, they are often called indicator species. What’s an indicator species? I’m glad you asked!

An indicator species is a species that tells us humans when something is wrong with their environment. Frogs are a primary example, but other amphibians like salamanders are also indicator species. How? Because frogs and salamanders are so sensitive in water and on land. Their skin is very water permeable, meaning that it can dry out easily if the area they are in is too dry or if the water they reside in has harmful chemicals. The skin is a vital organ to a frog’s life. 

When chemicals are present in aquatic ecosystems, frog populations dwindle. When areas become too warm and dry up or global temperatures cause shifts in ocean currents and jet stream movements that cause changes in weather pattern, this could also dry up habitats that frogs call home, also decreasing their numbers. And when frog numbers change, so do other species in the ecosystems.

Frog tadpoles are the primary predators of mosquito larvae. By decreasing the number of frogs, we are decreasing the number of tadpoles, increasing the number of mosquitos, and, in some areas this apply, we are increasing the population numbers of mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile, Zika, Dengue, etc.

“What is so special about frogs?” There is your answer. Frogs tell us when something is wrong in our world and they help keep humans healthy by keeping mosquito numbers down. Thank you for reading my blog! I hope many of you got something out of this!

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Trees

So recently I’ve done some research into the impact trees have on our day to day lives and I would just like to pass on some of this knowledge to you guys and save all of you the time it took me to find it all! For the sake of posts, I’m just going to list 2 benefits.

1. Trees are economically good!

Something many people may or may not know is that having trees on your property increase that lot’s real estate value. Why? Well, trees provide shade and in the summer months and these trees can shade houses, reducing air conditioning bills by keeping the house cool. The only drawback to this is that you either have to buy a lot that already has trees on it for immediate results, which could be expensive as trees increase the value, or you could plant trees that surround your house and invest time and water into the saplings and wait for them to grow tall and old. While this latter option may take a few decades, you will be benefitted by having trees that will shade your house in the sweltering summer months. This also promotes people who are contemplating to cut down trees to do not do it! Keep the tree up and figure out ways to mitigate whatever problems they might be causing. However, this isn’t always practical and sometimes the tree has to go.

2. Trees are healthy

Well of course trees are healthy! All they consume is straight CO2 and nutrient water! Yes, I supposed by human standards trees are healthy, but that’s not what I meant. Trees keep HUMANS healthy.

All land plants share a similar leaf anatomy: the leaves have holes in them, called stomata, that are much like our lungs. The stomata take in gases and put them into the plant where they get stored and used by the plant. You know, like carbon dioxide or oxygen. These are used and stored in trees are cellulose in the trunk and in several other forms. Here’s a cute little visual;

While these stomata take in CO2, they can’t decide what they take in and what they don’t, so they take in any gas particle that is can get. This includes air pollution.

Where are you going with this? Good question and I’m getting there! So now that you know that trees are nonspecific with the gases they take in, you can now figure out that they not only store carbon dioxide but also all of the other gases too! This means that trees take up harmful air pollutants, like carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide, and store them in their trunks. Trees clean the air of pollution! 

Thank you for reading this far, if you did. Even though the class I did the research for wasn’t a science-based class, I still learned a great from it about trees and writing!