Testing the effectiveness of passive gravitational separation for quantifying limno-terrestrial tardigrades

Nichole E. Simpson and E.A. McDonald

To study the interactions between tardigrades and their substrates, it is necessary to be able to capture, count, and identify the tardigrades living on a given substrate. Historically, this has been an extremely time-consuming process. Even under optimal circumstances, quantifying tardigrade density has been difficult. Using modified burettes and gravity, we were able to condense the found tardigrades from a lichen substrate into a small subsample of water. We captured 92.3% of all found tardigrades in this water sample through four trials. Our method is inexpensive, requires much less active time than other methods, and could be adapted to quantify tardigrades from many different substrate types.

• Nichole Simpson is a junior biology major with an emphasis in genetics and and a minor in chemistry. She has an associate degree from Piedmont Technical College and transferred to Lander in Fall 2019. She is a new member of the Tri-Beta Biological Honor Society. Nichole plans to attend graduate school and pursue a career in microbiology.