Tardigrade Collection

Learn More About Tardigrades...

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This image features Hypsibius augusti, a species of Tardigrada. Image taken by Yuuji Tsukii; provided courtesy of Protist Information Server.

• Extreme Animals. This online news article discusses the ability of tardigrades to withstand harsh conditions. The article covers the history, biology and significance of... ( This site is likely no longer available. )
  
• Hunting for 'bears' in the backyard . This Micscape Magazine article offers practical hints about how to collect and study tardigrades, or water bears, from mosses in your backyard. It features a... (more info)
  
• New Jersey Tardigrade Survey. This image-rich web page represents highlights from the New Jersey Tardigrade Survey conducted by Michael Shaw, under the guidance of William Miller. A map of... (more info)
  
• Tardigrada (Water Bears). This reference page offers a brief description of Tardigrades, also known as water bears. It includes information about their physical appearance, an... (more info)
  
• Tardigrade Species Distribution Project. This website provides information about Tardigrades and introduces the Tardigrade Species Distribution Project. The objectives of the project are to engage students... (more info)
  
• Tardigrades. This creative and informative web site is dedicated to Tardigrades, more commonly known as water bears. The site, directed towards children and the general public... (more info)
  
• The Incredible Water Bear. This image-rich Micscape Magazine article explores how water bears can be found almost everywhere yet are still unknown to almost everybody, why there are relatively... (more info)
  
• Tree of Life: Tardigrada. This Tree of Life web page features scientific information about Tardigrades, also known as water bears. The page includes the following Tardigrade resources: a diagram showing the external... (more info)
  
• Water Bear. This National Geographic Kids site features a "far out" fact about tardigrades, or water bears, along with a comical illustration. (more info)
  

Explore Tardigrades in the Classroom

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Tardigrades can be found in and easily collected from moss. This image is provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

• Dry Up Baby! Anhydrobiosis. This lab activity offers students an exploration into the survival mechanisms of organisms inhabiting the extreme environmental conditions of the Polar Regions. Students will design experiments using Tardigrades and Rotifers to expand their knowledge and understanding of normal behavior followed by experiments to explore anhydrobiosis, an adaptation of psychrophiles. The resource, available in both HTML and PDF, includes a teacher preparation activity, teaching sequence, and reproducible student master sheets. ( This site is likely no longer available. )
  
• Hunting Bears with a Microscope. In this online activity, students use lichens and tardigrades (water bears) to investigate their use as bioindicators of key air pollutants. When lichens are... (more info)
  
• Life in Extreme Environments - Who is on Top in the Food Chain?. This online lesson plan contains instructions for an experiment that teaches students about the feeding rates of Rotifers and/or Tardigrades. Students will use... (more info)
  
• Life in Extreme Environments: Who is on Top in the Food Chain and How Much do They Eat?. This lab activity encourages students to design experiments in order to gain some understanding of the feeding rates of Rotifers and/or Tardigrades. Students will use organisms collected locally or provided by the teacher. They will explore differences between their own collected data on feeding rates with that available on the Antarctic organisms that live in Lake Hoare. The resource, available in both HTML and PDF, includes a teacher preparation activity, teaching sequence, and student handouts. (more info)
  
• Tardigrade Species Distribution Project: Lesson Plan. This online lesson plan was designed for students taking part in the active research project to document the distribution of a new species of tardigrade... (more info)
  
• Tardigrades. This highly informative and detailed web site features a Pathfinder Science hands-on, minds-on guided research activity dedicated to tardigrades, also known as water... (more info)
  
• Tardigrades: Bears of the Moss. This online PowerPoint presentation is dedicated to the phylum Tardigrada. It discusses distinguishing characteristics of Tardigrades (also known as water... (more info)
  
• Tardigrades: The Living Gummy Bears Quiz. This interactive online quiz features ten questions about tardigrades. Comprised of short answer, true/false, and multiple-choice questions, visitors can submit answers online to... (more info)
  

Advanced Resources

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Tardigrade egg. Image copyright: Edward A. D. Mitchell 2002-2005.

• Cheating Death by Dehydration. This 'Inside JEB' journal article discusses the ability of tardigrades to undergo cryptobiosis. It briefly summarizes the experimental procedures used by Ralph... (more info)
  
• The Biology of Tardigrades. Kinchin, 1994 This book is a modern comprehensive account of marine and freshwater tardigrades. In addition to being the first taxonomic review in over a decade, it contains extensive... (citation and description)
  
• On Water Bears. This journal article discusses Tardigrades, microscopic invertebrates that require water in their environment and are found in freshwater, marine and terrestrial habitats. ( This site is likely no longer available. )
  
• Phylum Tardigrada. This Online Zoologists web page features a technical description of the phylum Tardigrada. Written in an outline format, the page includes a definition... ( This site may be offline. )
  
• Tardigrade taxonomy: an updated check list of the taxa and a list of characters for their identification. This Zootaxa journal article features an updated list of tardigrade taxa. This list is supplemented by a series of bibliographic references inherent in the synonymies... (more info)
  
• Tardigrades and Onychophorans. This online presentation compares tardigrades and onychophorans to arthropods. This page serves as an index of the 13 slides as well as provides a link to... ( This site is likely no longer available. )
  
• What a couple of dimensions can do for you: Comparative developmental studies using 4D microscopy, examples from tardigrade development. This Integrative and Comparative Biology scholarly paper (11-page PDF) presents a sophisticated method of microscopy, 4D microscopy (3D time-lapse microscopy), which records the... (more info)
  

Additional Resources