Tardigrades

Abstract: A major inventory of tardigrades in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was conducted and we compared tardigrade species composition in moss and lichen samples and analysed environmental correlates of tardigrade community structure. We also compared these tardigrades with those collected from soil. The basic dataset from tree mosses and lichens consisted of 336 samples, 9200 individuals and 43 species. The supplemental dataset from rock mosses and lichens consisted of 29 samples, 811 individuals, and 41 species.

Abstract: We provide a comprehensive list of all records of freshwater aquatic tardigrades from North Carolina. In addition, 24 samples of medium and coarse sand were taken from the Davidson River, Transylvania County, NC near the Bobby N. Setzer State Fish Hatchery in the Pisgah National Forest on April 26 and May 3, 2016. Approximately 1900 interstitial microinvertebrates were found with nematodes, oligochaetes, and tardigrades being the most abundant. Tardigrades were individually mounted on slides and identified to species when possible.

Abstract: For many decades the genus Milnesium was thought to consist of a single, cosmopolitan species: Milnesium tardigradum Doyère, 1840. However, recently the genus has been re-evaluated, and numerous new species have been described. Currently, over twenty extant species and one fossil are recognised, and most appear to have very narrow geographic ranges. It is doubtful that M.

Abstract: As part of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (http://www.dlia.org), an extensive survey of tardigrades has been conducted in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) in Tennessee and North Carolina, U.S.A., by Bartels and Nelson. Freshwater tardigrades include three species in the aquatic genus Thulinius (Eutardigrada, Isohypsibiidae). A new species, Thulinius romanoi, described from stream sediment, is distinguished from all other congeners by having a sculptured cuticle.

Abstract: A large database now exists for tardigrades in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) consisting of 780 samples, 15,618 specimens, and 80 species including 14 new to science. We found 43 species of tardigrades in 150 soil/leaf litter samples. We calculated the Chao 1 species richness estimate with the species accumulation curve for the GSMNP and confirmed that our species list is virtually complete. Compared with soil data from mt. Fuji, Japan, estimated species richness in GSMNP was significantly higher.

Abstract: A new species, Ramazzottius belubellus, is described from a single lichen sample collected in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in western North Carolina, U.S.A. The new species is easily distinguishable from all other members of the genus Ramazzottius by the presence of long dorsal, sharp triangular spines not arranged in transverse bands as opposed to small tubercles arranged in bands, or a thin reticulum, or a smooth cuticle present in all other described species of the genus.

Abstract: As part of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (http://www.dlia.org), we are conducting a large-scale multihabitat inventory of tardigrades in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) in Tennessee and North Carolina, USA. Here we report our findings for the genus Macrobiotus (Eutardigrada, Macrobiotidae). Two new species, Macrobiotus martini sp. nov. and Macrobiotus halei sp. nov., are described from moss, lichen, soil and leaf litter samples.

Abstract: As part of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), we have collected nearly 600 samples from soil/decomposed leaf litter, lichens and mosses on trees, and stream sediment and periphyton within all 19 permanent ATBI plots, with additional samples from caves, rock lichens, seeps, and bird nests. Tardigrades have been extracted from samples using centrifugation with Ludox AM TM and mounted on individual microscope slides in Hoyer's medium for identifi cation under phase and DIC microscopy.

Abstract: or the past 5 years we have been conducting a large-scale, multi-habitat inventory of the tardigrades in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S.A.) as part of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) (see www.dlia.org). In terrestrial habitats, we collected moss, lichen, and soil samples from 19 permanent ATBI plots, representing all major land cover types within the park. Each ATBI plot is 100 × 100 m. In each plot, when available, 16 moss samples, 16 lichen samples, and 4 soil samples were collected in paper bags and air dried in the laboratory.