Evidence of avian-mediated long distance dispersal in American tardigrades
Terrestrial tardigrades, commonly known as “water bears”, are part of a phylum of microscopic, aquatic invertebrates famous for cryptobiosis and space travel, but little is known about their modes of dispersal on Earth. Wind is assumed, but not truly demonstrated, to be the major method of global di...
Published in: | PeerJ |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
PeerJ Inc.
2018
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6044270/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30018851 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5035 |
id |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:6044270 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:6044270 2023-05-15T18:51:10+02:00 Evidence of avian-mediated long distance dispersal in American tardigrades Mogle, Matthew J. Kimball, Scott A. Miller, William R. McKown, Richard D. 2018-07-04 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6044270/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30018851 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5035 en eng PeerJ Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6044270/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30018851 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5035 ©2018 Mogle et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. CC-BY Biogeography Text 2018 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5035 2018-07-22T00:27:28Z Terrestrial tardigrades, commonly known as “water bears”, are part of a phylum of microscopic, aquatic invertebrates famous for cryptobiosis and space travel, but little is known about their modes of dispersal on Earth. Wind is assumed, but not truly demonstrated, to be the major method of global dispersal. Yet, some water bear distribution patterns cannot be explained by patterns of prevailing winds. Mammals and birds have been proposed as potential animal vectors. Importantly, most nearctic-neotropical migrant birds move north and south, with many crossing the equator, whereas prevailing winds move west to east or east to west but do not cross the equator. When multiplied by billions of birds over tens of millions of years, if the ectozoochory of tardigrades by birds is true then both regional and intercontinental patterns can be better explained. To test for the potential role of birds in tardigrade dispersal, the nests of 10 species for birds were examined. Seventy percent of nests were positive for tardigrades, demonstrating that some birds are in a position for transference. The carcasses of eight birds (six species) found dead from window strikes and a Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) found dead during routine surveys were also examined. Of the birds examined, 66% yielded tardigrades from two classes, three orders, and five species, including juveniles, adults, and eggs, suggesting that many bird species are potential vectors for many species of tardigrades. Our data support the hypothesis of avian-mediated long distance dispersal of tardigrades and provide evidence that further investigation is warranted. Text Tardigrade water bear PubMed Central (PMC) Water Bears ENVELOPE(-54.431,-54.431,49.600,49.600) PeerJ 6 e5035 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Biogeography |
spellingShingle |
Biogeography Mogle, Matthew J. Kimball, Scott A. Miller, William R. McKown, Richard D. Evidence of avian-mediated long distance dispersal in American tardigrades |
topic_facet |
Biogeography |
description |
Terrestrial tardigrades, commonly known as “water bears”, are part of a phylum of microscopic, aquatic invertebrates famous for cryptobiosis and space travel, but little is known about their modes of dispersal on Earth. Wind is assumed, but not truly demonstrated, to be the major method of global dispersal. Yet, some water bear distribution patterns cannot be explained by patterns of prevailing winds. Mammals and birds have been proposed as potential animal vectors. Importantly, most nearctic-neotropical migrant birds move north and south, with many crossing the equator, whereas prevailing winds move west to east or east to west but do not cross the equator. When multiplied by billions of birds over tens of millions of years, if the ectozoochory of tardigrades by birds is true then both regional and intercontinental patterns can be better explained. To test for the potential role of birds in tardigrade dispersal, the nests of 10 species for birds were examined. Seventy percent of nests were positive for tardigrades, demonstrating that some birds are in a position for transference. The carcasses of eight birds (six species) found dead from window strikes and a Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) found dead during routine surveys were also examined. Of the birds examined, 66% yielded tardigrades from two classes, three orders, and five species, including juveniles, adults, and eggs, suggesting that many bird species are potential vectors for many species of tardigrades. Our data support the hypothesis of avian-mediated long distance dispersal of tardigrades and provide evidence that further investigation is warranted. |
format |
Text |
author |
Mogle, Matthew J. Kimball, Scott A. Miller, William R. McKown, Richard D. |
author_facet |
Mogle, Matthew J. Kimball, Scott A. Miller, William R. McKown, Richard D. |
author_sort |
Mogle, Matthew J. |
title |
Evidence of avian-mediated long distance dispersal in American tardigrades |
title_short |
Evidence of avian-mediated long distance dispersal in American tardigrades |
title_full |
Evidence of avian-mediated long distance dispersal in American tardigrades |
title_fullStr |
Evidence of avian-mediated long distance dispersal in American tardigrades |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evidence of avian-mediated long distance dispersal in American tardigrades |
title_sort |
evidence of avian-mediated long distance dispersal in american tardigrades |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6044270/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30018851 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5035 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-54.431,-54.431,49.600,49.600) |
geographic |
Water Bears |
geographic_facet |
Water Bears |
genre |
Tardigrade water bear |
genre_facet |
Tardigrade water bear |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6044270/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30018851 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5035 |
op_rights |
©2018 Mogle et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5035 |
container_title |
PeerJ |
container_volume |
6 |
container_start_page |
e5035 |
_version_ |
1766244956893085696 |