Lorena Rebecchi and Roberto Guidetti, University of Modena and Regio Emilia
They can survive freezing temperatures, total desiccation, and even being sent into space. But the world’s hardiest animal, the tardigrade, could have a hard time surviving climate change.
Tardigrades, also known as water bears, live in many environments. They are one of the few organisms that are abundant in Antarctica.
To assess how they will handle climate change, Lorena Rebecchi and colleagues at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy collected Antarctic tardigrades and subjected them to dehydration, rising temperatures, and increased ultraviolet radiation.
The tardigrades coped admirably with individual stressors. They survived desiccation at every stage of their life cycle by shutting down their metabolism, entering a state known as anhydrobiosis. They also tolerated brief periods of high temperatures up to 33 °C, and separately, high ultraviolet radiation – which they might encounter because of