About St. Mary’s
St. Mary’s University College is a Catholic post-secondary, liberal arts and sciences teaching and research
institution open to students of all faiths and traditions.
St. Mary’s offers Bachelor of Arts degrees, a Bachelor of Education degree and university courses in 33 academic subjects.
At St. Mary’s, you can complete two years of full-time study before transferring directly into a biological sciences program at any university in Alberta or beyond.
biology professor conducts rare study of tardigrades
(July 2011) -- Water bears are invisible to the naked eye.
They waddle slowly on eight legs, happily munching on moss or other microscopic animals until the moss dries up.
Then they crumple down to resemble a speck of dust, living up to ten years in a desiccated state until conditions are right to resume munching and waddling again.
Up to 1,000 species of tardigrades – or “water bears” as scientists are fond of calling them – are found all over the world, but the tiny invertebrates have not been studied extensively in Alberta.
Dr. Gary Grothman, assistant professor of biology at St. Mary’s University College, will study the water bears of Fish Creek Provincial Park this summer with help from research assistant Lori Alexander, a St. Mary’s science student.
“Tardigrades are able to dry out and survive for years. They thrive in environments that change a lot, which is why they do so well in moss,” Dr. Grothman said.
“That’s the kind of thing you see in bacteria, but to find this characteristic in an animal is rare. Water bears are one of the few animals that do it, and they are the cutest.”
The scientists are gathering samples from nearby Fish Creek and then painstakingly searching by microscope for the plump tardigrades among the water debris. Once an initial survey is conducted, Dr. Grothman hopes to investigate how water bears recognize the environmental conditions that cause them to dry up.
Water bears have demonstrated no potential economic benefit or threat of disease, so studies of the creatures have been relatively infrequent, especially in North America.
However, they are the only animals to have survived the radiation and vacuum of space in recent experiments. Dr. Grothman says unlocking their secrets may lead to discoveries related to the storage of living tissues or other applications.
“Mainly they are just interesting in themselves as a large group of animals that not too many people have studied.”