Final Note of Special Issue “Tardigrades Taxonomy, Biology and Ecology”

Abstract

Tardigrada (water bears) are microscopic invertebrates inhabiting aquatic (freshwater and marine) and terrestrial habitats. They are thriving in almost all Earth ecosystems from deepest oceans to highest mountains, from tropics to polar regions. Water bears are probably most famous for their cryptobiotic abilities, which allow them to survive a broad spectrum of extreme environmental conditions. The Special Issue on tardigrades was launched to popularize research on these fascinating microinvertebrates. The published papers were focused on (a) marine and terrestrial tardigrades diversity, (b) interpopulation variability of Antarctic eutardigrade Paramacrobiotus fairbanksi, (c) encystment in freshwater eutardigrade Thulinius ruffoi and (d) use of a metabarcoding approach to community structures studies in microenvironments.

Keywords

• diversity
• encystment
• interpopulation variability
• metabarcoding
• new species
• Tardigrada