We are researching if moss/lichen proximity to rivers affects tardigrade survival during evaporation? We are interested in this question because we feel that it is important to determine the amount of water the lichen or moss receive/are nearby that the tardigrades are coming from. With this research, we can determine the importance of conserving river streams and beds by looking at the tardigrade quantities. It can also be determined how an environmental disaster (i.e., drought) will impact the tardigrade survival rates and further on the surrounding ecology.

Main Finding: As we were unable to find enough live tardigrades to account for their survival with evaporation, we were forced to reevaluate our research question. We decided to go in the direction of abundance rates between the taxa (however still focusing on tardigrades). The main finding of the shifted focus was that microhabitats determined whether tardigrades, nematodes, and rotifers were found in equal proportions.

Discussion: Nematodes and rotifers seem to be thriving farther away from the river. This could be due to the seemingly less threat from the tardigrades themselves. This would also make the farther river proximity a more suitable habitat for the tardigrades, as they have a greater abundance in food via the nematodes and rotifers. These findings make us reject our original hypothesis of finding more tardigrades near the river habitat. Another interesting finding was how the tardigrades were not as abundant in the far proximity. There was no significant difference between the abundances of the far and close proximities with tardigrades. However, it is an interesting comparison that could help explain why the taxa composition is different in the two habitats. Further testing will need to be done on the predatory-prey dynamics of the taxa studied, as this may determine the abundance of the tardigrades in certain areas.