Unintelligent Design - What on Earth are Tardigrades For and Why Design so Many of Them?

Tardigrades are also found in Denmark, in more everyday places, such as in soil, moss and rain gutters.

Photo: Getty

Tardigrade, or water bear.

Photograph: dottedhippo/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Denmark is crawling with the world's most resilient creature – University of Copenhagen

We don’t know how many species of tardigrade there are in Denmark in all, but we did find 96 unique tardigrade DNA sequences during our study – of which only 13 are known species. And there are probably more, so their diversity is apparently huge.

Associate Professor Nadja Møbjerg
Department of Biology University of Copenhagen.

Researchers from the Department of Biology, the Globe Institute and the University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark have discovered that there are at least 96 species of tardigrade, of which only 13 were previously known to science. There are currently some 1,300 known species worldwide, although the Copenhagen research suggests that may be a vast under-estimate. This figure of 96 species in Denmark alone, was arrived at by analysing environmental DNA, known as eDNA, in soil samples from around Denmark. The technique can trace DNA from all living organisms in soil, water and air.

First a little background supplied by ChatGPT3:

Tardigrades: The Resilient Microscopic Marvels

Tardigrades, often referred to as "water bears" or "moss piglets," are microscopic, water-dwelling animals that belong to the phylum Tardigrada. They have captured the interest of scientists and the public alike due to their remarkable ability to survive extreme conditions that would be lethal to most other forms of life. Tardigrades were first discovered in the late 18th century and have since become subjects of intensive research.

Discovery:
Tardigrades were first described by German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773. However, it wasn't until the 20th century that they gained significant attention due to advances in microscopy and scientific techniques.

Biology:
Tardigrades are incredibly small animals, usually ranging from 0.1 to 1.5 millimeters in length. They are found in various environments, including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats, where they often inhabit mosses, lichens, leaf litter, and soil.

One of the most fascinating aspects of tardigrades is their remarkable tolerance to extreme conditions:

1. Desiccation (Drying Out):
   Tardigrades can survive complete desiccation by entering a state known as cryptobiosis. In this state, they lose most of their water content and essentially shut down their metabolic processes. They curl up into a "tun" shape, forming a protective barrier against the environment. When conditions become favorable again, they rehydrate and return to their active state.
2. Extreme Temperatures:
   Tardigrades can withstand both high and low temperatures. Some species can survive temperatures close to absolute zero (-273°C) and others can withstand temperatures as high as 150°C.
3. Radiation:
   Tardigrades can endure high levels of ionizing radiation, including X-rays and gamma rays, which would be lethal to most organisms.
4. Pressure:
   Certain tardigrades can survive extreme pressure, such as the pressure found in the deep sea.
5. Toxic Environments:
   Tardigrades can tolerate high concentrations of toxic substances, including heavy metals and strong acids.

Despite their resilience, tardigrades are not invincible. Extreme conditions can still cause damage, and their survival rates vary depending on the specific conditions and species.

ChatGPT3 "Tell me all about tardigrades, their discovery and biology" [Response to user request]
Retrieved from https://chat.openai.com/

The research is explained in a University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science news release:

They’re found on Mount Everest, in the deep seas, aboard the International Space Station and thousands of them have even crash landed and been spilled onto the moon. The microscopic water bear has a nearly unfathomable ability to survive in the most hostile environments. New research from the University of Copenhagen demonstrates that a wide variety of them also live in Denmark.

They look a bit like chubby teddy bears. But at roughly half a millimeter in length, they are one of the smallest multicellular animals on Earth. Their wobbly exterior belies a hardy survivor that can be found in Earth’s most extreme locations, from the Himalayas to the deepest of seas.

Water bears can withstand being frozen in liquid helium to -273°C as well as total desiccation. They can even withstand extreme levels of radiation and the vacuum of outer space.

But they’re also found in Denmark, in more everyday places, such as in soil, moss and rain gutters. For the first time, researchers from the Department of Biology, the Globe Institute and the University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark have studied the species richness of water bears, known scientifically as tardigrades, across Denmark. By analyzing environmental DNA, known as eDNA, a method that can trace DNA from all living organisms in soil, water and air, scientists studied DNA sequences extracted from soil samples gathered around Denmark. The result? Denmark is crawling with tardigrades.

[…]

More about water bears

• Among other things, water bears (tardigrades) feed on bacteria and plant cells. After piercing a cell with the sharp stylets extending from their mouths, they suck up the cell’s juices. Some species are predatorial and feed on other small animals such as rotifers, roundworms and other tardigrades.
• Tardigrades have eight legs with small claws or, in some cases, suction discs.
• They are built up of about 1000 cells and are advanced animals with a number of organs.
• As with all other animal groups on Earth, water bears are originally from the ocean, where many species also live today.
• While both females and males are found in the sea, land-based tardigrades are primarily females which reproduce asexually.

Last studied in 1972

Water bears that live on land thrive in extreme environments, where they are exposed to being desiccated, for example. But they can also be found in wetter soils, and our results demonstrate that they seem to do quite well on the Danish island Lolland, in the wild and boggy areas of Skelsnæs, Fuglse Mose and Musse Mose.

Nadja Møbjerg.

It is well known that water bears are found nearly everywhere on Earth, from parched desert landscapes to the frosty Arctic. However, we know far less about how the different species are distributed locally and how many species there are in all.

The last occasion that the species richness of tardigrades was studied in Denmark was more than a half-century ago, in 1972, when today’s DNA methods and computers didn’t exist.

In the new study, the researchers analysed DNA sequences from 130 soil samples collected in various regions of Denmark. They could see that the vast majority of samples contained DNA from the microscopic water bears.

Tardigrades are closely related to arthropods, to which insects and crustaceans belong. But there is still disagreement among scientists about exactly where in the animal kingdom tardigrades deserve to be classified.

Tardigrade under a microscope.

Photo: Nadja Møberg

When there is water, they are active, reproduce and feed. But as soon as the water evaporates, they stop living, shut down their metabolic processes and allow themselves to desiccate. And then they lie there, waiting for the water to return.

Near sci-fi-like perspectives are imaginable if we could transfer some of the tardigrade’s abilities to other organisms. This is why intense research is being conducted into how cryptobiosis works right down to the molecular level.

Nadja Møbjerg.

Can suspend life for 30 years

The secret to the tardigrade’s incredible capacity to survive in extreme environments is found in its unique ability to enter cryptobiosis, a reversible state in which the animal suspends its metabolic activities. The tiny animal can enter this state if exposed to desiccation, cooling and other extreme environmental challenges. Scientists have observed tardigrades waking up and reproducing after thirty years of cryptobiosis. One study even showed tardigrades that were dormant for a full 120 years being able to move again, but without being able to reproduce.

Their unique ability to survive in cryptobiosis has made water bears the object of great interest to scientists in areas like biomedicine and space research.

About the study

• 130 soil samples from across Denmark were analysed for tardigrade DNA.
• The researchers found that the species richness of tardigrades was greatest in the natural areas of Lolland, Denmark.
• Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is a method that can trace organismal DNA such as that from skin or excrement in a given environment.
• The study was conducted by Frida L. Pust, Tobias G. Frøslev, Reinhardt M. Kristensen and Nadja Møbjerg.
• The study is published in the ‘Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society’.

In the abstract to their paper in Zoological Journal, published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Linnean Society, the author say they have identified a region of tardigrade DNA (the V4 region (~400 bp) of the 18S rRNA marker gene) which can be used to assign taxonomy to 96 eutardigrade molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs), using three different methods (alignment-, tree- and phylogeny-based methods). This will help overcome the practicalities that follow larger sampling and identification of these microscopic animals.

This should allow a more complete picture of the biodiversity and geographical distribution of these creatures than we currently have.

And that begs the question for creationists who believe these complex, multicellular organisms must have been specifically designed by a magic deity because their dogma states that evolution of new taxons is impossible, although they can never explain which laws of chemistry and/or physics prevent it and how.

So, like the very many species of beetle, that, if we allow for an intelligent designer, suggests something of an obsession with designing multiple slight variations of a general theme for no discernible reason, it seems the same applies to tardigrades with multiple variations on a general 1000-cell design.

Creationists are also obliged to believe all creatures were created for the exclusive use of humankind, yet we haven't even been aware of the existence of tardigrades for most of our history, let alone made any use of them.

So, the questions for creationists are:

1. What are tardigrades for, exactly?
2. Why so many of them, varying only in their DNA, with at least 96 species in Denmark alone, being virtually indistinguishable from one another?

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