Tardigrades, also known as water bears, space bears, or moss piglets) are water-dwelling, eight-legged, segmented micro-animals. 

 

Effects of road traffic on bark pH and epiphytic lichens in Tallinn A brief analysis of the relationship between the pH of bark and lichen and air pollution. The article provides a solid base for our project and something that we could base our project on. Note the samples taken were in Estonia, a country with vastly different trees than the area around the Nature Museum. Our experiment may have different results due to the air quality in the US being more or less than that of Estonia. This website helped us understand what our results might look like after completing the experiment and how we should analyze them. For example, if the pH was high for a tree in a highly pollu

Measuring Tree Bark pH This article is what our group used to measure bark pH in the duration of the experiment. It provided us with a way to measure the pH of bark, which we previously did not know how to accomplish, as measuring the acidity of bark was usually not something that an experiment covers and therefore we did not learn during the duration of the program.

Reaction of Tardigrades (Hypsibius) to Physical and Chemical Extremes This article tells us about the imperishability and robustness of the tardigrade in the most extreme of conditions. Which may include things such as space, water, and lava. This imperishability is a key factor in one of the reasons why we chose to examine tardigrade populations in our experiment instead of nematodes or single celled bacteria. In our procedure, our examination requires us to leave the lichen in a glass bottle for 24 hours soaking in water. Due to these 24 hours, most of the nematodes and single celled organisms die. However, the tardigrades survive this duration of time due to their ability to lower their metabolism to nearly zero in order to survive.

Another Similar Citizen Science Project This rudimentary project was based off of a similar experiment first created by this woman in 2003. This project tested the number of tardigrades living on the lichen on trees next to an industrial factory as compared to a forest reserve. Her results were inconclusive, and therefore, her question remained unanswered. Our project is based off of her project, but on a somewhat smaller scale, while her project had collecting locations near a huge factory, ours was next to urban roads.