Question

What unsusual characteristic do the cysts of brine shrimps, the resurrection fern and Tardigrades.

Answer 1

Brine shrimps can reproduce in two ways. 1) viviparious or live reproduction and 2) oviparious or production of eggs that hatch after being expelled from the body. The eggs, coated in chorion coating, are called cysts.

Through the reproduction of cysts, the survival of brine shrimps increase even when dealing in extreme conditions. The cysts can remain in total stasis for two years in oxygen less surroundings, they can survive freezing temperature and boiling tempreture. When conditions improve and eggs are placed in salt water, they hatch within a few hours and increase the population of brine shrimps.

Resurrection ferns are called as such because they resurrect after they shrivel, though the fern does not really die. In extremely hot or conditions, these ferns can lose 75% of their water content, even losing 97% water content if suffering under extreme drought, causing them to shrivel and look like dead ferns. But, when these ferns are again exposed to water, they resurrect and becomes green and healthy. This unusual ability help these ferns to survive under extremely harmful conditions.

Tardigrades are known as nature's toughest animals. They can live in solid ice, intense radiation of space, and boiling water. They can also survive in the desert for ten years without drinking water, as well as, in the deepest part of the sea. Their survival is based on their unusual characteristic to change their form to survive without water.

In the absence of water, tardigrades can completely dry out. The absence of water in their body urges them to replace it with a sugar called trehalose. Trehalose then becomes their source of life until water becomes available to tardigrades for consumption.