Water Bears in the Desert

Tardigrades, or "water bears," are tiny creatures so bizarre that they have their own phylum. They're found in a diverse range of environments. A team from Baker University in Kansas came to the 2011 BioBlitz in Saguaro National Park to see if they could find any living there.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• tardigrades
• water bears
• bioblitz
• 2011
• wildlife
• moss piglets
• ecology
• microbes

[savageyardTV]

Hi, forgiven61: Well, they prefer moist surfaces, as opposed to open water. So they wouldn't be commonly found in drinking water sources. Regarding water fleas (daphnia), they are most common in ponds and other still water-- you don't find them in rivers or aquifers. So whether they are in your drinking water source depends on where the water comes from. But I suspect they get filtered out before the water gets to the chlorination stage-- they're pretty big.

Thanks for viewing/commenting!

[forgiven61]

I thought these and water fleas are in the drinking water until they are killed with chlorine.