Raphael




 * __TARDIGRADES__**

Tardigrades ( water bears, moss pig) They are a phylum(group) not a single species. To write about tardigrades being a species would be very difficult because the Tardigrade is a phylum. not a single species. The reason it would be hard to write about one specific species is because new species of tardigrades are being found all over the world right now and because they are so adaptable every tardigrade would be a little bit different for each place they find them. There are 900 species of tardigrade All the species have some things in common. First they all have eight legs with claws. They grow to 1mm and can breath through their skin. Their eggs are incredibly light so they can be blown in the wind. This explains why there are so many tardigrades.

from "http://sun.iwu.edu/~tardisdp/keypage2.html" Tardigrades are extremophiles that live commonly on moss to suck out the moisture. One of the tardigrades unique aspects is that they can survive in extreme conditions. They can seemingly die under extreme conditions such as temperatures under absolute zero or over 150C and then revive in hospitable conditions. They can also withstand extreme amounts of radiation.

__**OBJECTIVES ONE AND TWO**__ a. check list
 * objectives ||  ||
 * one and two || O ||
 * three || O ||
 * four || O ||
 * five || O ||
 * six || O ||
 * seven || O ||
 * eight || O ||
 * nine || O ||

b. Vocabulary. 1.decomposer **A organism that steals nutrients from a dead corpse.** 2. habitat 3. ecosystem 4. environment 5. primary consumer **Is the creature that eats the producer in a food web/chain.** 6. symbiosis 7. phylum **A taxonomic term for a group of related species.** 8. diurnal 9. organism 10. extremophiles ** A creature that can survive extreme conditions. ** 11. taxonomy
 * A habitat is a natural place where a species can naturally grow without being disrupted. A organism can live in it’s habitat because its biology is designed against the habitat. The habitat of the tardigrade in on moss. The tardigrade prefers more damp areas because of nutrition from the liquid. Most of the time rainy conditions are prefered by the tardigrade. **
 * Is a community of organism. The tardigrade ecosystem consists of plants, moss, fungus, amoebas, nematode worms, birds, snakes. You can see more at Objective 3. **
 * A environment is a place where a animal is currently in. It is composed of living and nonliving factors. The living factors would be plant and animals. This could affect territory of animals which could cause violence between the animals. The nonliving factors are air pressure, temperature, soil and weather. **
 * Symbiosis is when two species have a relationship that results in some kind of outcome. There are three types of these relations. Mutualism is a relationship that benefits both species. Parasitism is when one species benefits from harming the other. Commensalism is when one species benefits while the other is unaffected.(information from Brain pop) **
 * Diurnal means that the creature sleeps during the night and is awake during the day. **
 * A form of life such as plant, animal or fungus **
 * Way of classifying living things.** 12. metabolism **biologic functions**

c. Research question. How can tardigrades adapt so well to extreme conditions?

__**OBJECTIVE THREE**__ a.FOOD WEB The poster above shows the food web of the Tardigrade. The Tardigrades and the Nematode worms and Amoebas are the primary consumer. The second consumer is the bird and the third consumer is the snake. We can see in the primary consumer area that most creatures eat each other.

b. Decomposer is a organism that can eat the nutrients proteins of the dead bodies. A type of decomposer is a scavenger such as volture that eat dead cows in the desert. One of the most common decomposers are bacteria. Bacteria even though some times kills it's hosts, but this usually happens when the host is old and his/her immune system can not function. But decomposers are not parasites. The simplest reasoning for this is that parasite target hosts that are alive, whereas decomposers usually target creatures that are desist

a.__Formal:__
 * __OBJECTIVE FOUR__**
 * __DEFINE ORGANISM, ENVIRONMENT HABITAT AND CONDITION__**
 * A environment is a place where a animal is currently in. It is composed of living and nonliving factors. The living factors would be plant and animals. This could affect territory of animals which could cause violence between the animals. The nonliving factors are air pressure, temperature, soil and weather. **

__ informal: __ There are a few components of a environment. First is the living. This could be plants and animals. They can affect territories such as water holes and shelters. Secondly the not living might be light source, temperature, pressure of oxygen etc. A habitat is a place were a animal lives and what is in it such as other animals.


 * ORGANISM **
 * A form of life such as plant, animal or fungus **


 * CONDITION **
 * a position or state of which a object is in. **


 * ENVIRONMENT **
 * A environment is a place where a animal is currently in. It is composed of living and nonliving factors. The living factors would be plant and animals. This could affect territory of animals which could cause violence between the animals. The nonliving factors are air pressure, temperature, soil and weather. **

all formal are reworded from http://dictionary.reference.com/

The majority of Tardigrade live on moss. Moss can be found all over the world especially rainy regions. but tardigrades have been found in hot springs and are still being found today. Map above shows tardigrade distribution in Europe. The dark blue shows the largest amount of tardigrades and the yellow shows the least amount. We can see the hotter/colder regions are yellow. However tardigrades can still survive such conditions is because the tardigrade is by going through a process which is called **cryptobiosis,** the suspension of metabolism due to an change in environment. (from "http://sun.iwu.edu/~tardisdp)

In over word cryptobiosis is when a organism shuts down when experiencing too extreme environments.

Some cryptobiosis types:
 * anhydrobiosis (shut down from lack of water);
 * cryobiosis (shut down from low temperature);
 * osmobiosis ( shut down from increased saline concentration, such as salt water);
 * anoxybiosis (shut down from lack of oxygen).

b.
 * ECOSYSTEM **
 * Is a community of organism. The tardigrade ecosystem consists of plants, moss, fungus, amoebas, nematode worms, birds, snakes but this depends on the exact species of tardigrade. You can see more at Objective 3. **

** It is hard to write a tardigrade ecosystem when there are 900 species and they live in a variety of environments. **

__**OBJECTIVE FIVE**__**/SEVEN**: **How the tardigrade body/behaviour adapts to its environment**

1- The tardigrade needs water and usually lives in wet places (behavioural adapation) so its skin is permeable (external physical). 2- When there is no water (the environment changes) it can enter a special state called "tun" when it looks like a small hard seed. Its body folds (internal physical), its legs fold in (external) and it produces a wax substance to keep any remaining water inside (external)

__**OBJECTIVE SIX**__ Nocturnal means that the creature is awake during the night and rests in the day. A diurnal creature is like humans he sleep during the night and are awake during the day. The tardigrade isn't really covered by either because it is so simple. The closest it comes to sleep is in cryptobiosis.


 * __OBJECTIVE EIGHT__**

symbiotic relations with the Tardigrades :
 * SYMBIOTIC **
 * Symbiosis is when two species have a relationship that results in some kind of outcome. There are three types of these relations. Mutualism is a relationship that benefits both species. Parasitism is when one species benefits from harming the other. Commensalism is when one species benefits while the other is unaffected.(information from Brain pop) **

Mutualism - when a tardigrades eat the fungus the Amoebas eggs hatch. because the fungus would eat the Amoebas egg.

Tartigrades are not a species ; they are a phylum. It is related to Nematodes and fruit flys. Here are the two basic classes of tardigrade. the difference is the amount of antennas the tardigrades have.
 * __OBJECTIVE NINE__**

__**OBJECTIVE ELEVEN**__ Tardigrades inhabit lots of different environments, so I am going to classify the organisms included on the example food web:

nematode invertebrate animal. moss:plant Amoeba micro organism. Bacteria micro organism snake vertebrate reptile. bird vertebrate animal.

The flow chart above show the Adaptation of Tardigrades

Human beings have adapted to their environment in several ways. One way is that human's have very smart brains compared to other species. This can let us make weapons and tools to create shelters, clothes, and get food. Human babies are very dependent because this is what allows humans to still walk up right and then develop a big brain. A creature with a big brain could not be born through the hips of a creature that walked upright. Humans have a good sense of sight because they were a kind of predator (hunter). Humans have sharp teeth to eat meat and the jaws are strong. Human skin creates calluses to make the skin tougher to work outside.
 * __OBJECTIVE TWELVE__**

Works Cited Brain pop. symbiosis. Brain pop. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2012. . “Ecosystem, .” Dictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2012. . “enviorment.” dictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2012. . “habitat.” Dictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2012. . Tardigrades. www.tardigrades.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2012. <http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2008/shifflet_bran/index.html>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">TARDIS. “Tardigrade in space.” blogspot.jp. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2012. <http://tardigradesinspace.blogspot.jp/>.