The Prophet Aquatic Research Center hosted an event for students and members of the community to learn about tardigrades, also known as water bears, Saturday.

Water bears are microscopic animals known for their resiliency in harsh conditions including extreme cold, heat and hunger. Tardigrades have survived all five mass extinctions and have been recorded to survive in Antarctica, volcanoes and even outer space. Because of their resiliency and success, tardigrades live all over the planet, including here in Kansas. 

At the event, participants listened to a presentation by Graduate Administrative Assistant Marielena Baños and learned about tardigrades. Intended to be educational for Spanish learners, some words on the slides were in both English and Spanish. 

Participants then went outside to collect lichens from trees and identified which tree they had collected their lichen from using a handbook for Kansas Trees and Shrubs. Upon returning to the PAROC outreach classroom, they used laundry detergent and bleach to identify what kind of lichen they had collected and then poured water into the lichen sample. 

After pipetting the lichen sample into a petri dish to view under the microscope, several participants identified tardigrades and Baños walked around answering questions and helping participants to identify what kind of tardigrade they had found in their sample. Some tardigrades did not look exactly like the slides because of how they were adjusting to the water. 

When the outreach event wrapped up, participants were allowed to take their bag of collection supplies home with them.  

On April 20,  PAROC will host an Earth Day celebration and a riparian restoration volunteer workday with Native Lands. The schedule for future PAROC events can be accessed at https://www.esuparoc.com/