Did you know there are organisms that live in places with very high temperatures and very low temperatures? Come let’s find out more about them.
It’s all extreme!
Extremophiles are organisms that inhabit “extreme” ecosystems or environments of course these are called extreme from a human point of view.) These organisms are found in extremely cold places, hot places, acidic regions and even places with extreme pressure. They have also developed different mechanisms to thrive in these conditions. Thermophiles are extremophiles that can survive at very high temperatures. Thermus aquaticus, a heat-resistant bacteria, can survive temperatures of even 80 degrees Celsius Researchers discovered bacteria thriving in hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean and under very high pressure Apparently, the organisms survived by using “the energy and carbon dioxide from the vents Psychrophiles are organisms that survive at temperatures as low as 12 degrees Celsius Some species adapt to this through proteins that help body liquids freeze without the formation of ice crystals that could damage their body.
And then there are tardigrades
Also known as water bears these microscopic organisms are one of the hardest creatures on our planet. They are found in the sea, freshwater and on land- from the Arctic to the Antarctic and can survive in extreme conditions. Apparently, “different species of tardigrades have different adaptations for a wide variety of environmental threats”. They can “survive being heated to 150C and frozen to almost absolute zero”. For instance, they can live on without water or trapped in ice” for years. How do they do it? They shed nearly all the water in body, shrink, and “enter a deep state of suspended animation”. And when they can find water (event years later), they get back to their original state. In fact, as you read this they could be living on the Moon too – a lunar lander carrying thousands of these creatures for experiment crash-landed in Moon in 2018!
Picture Credit : Google
