Life history strategy of the Antarctic tardigrade

• Project/Area Number: 26650168
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: National Institute of Polar Research
• Principal Investigator: Tsujimoto Megumu 国立極地研究所, 研究教育系, 特任研究員 (90634650)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000)
• Keywords: クマムシ / 南極 / 生存戦略 / 繁殖 / 長期生存 / 極限環境

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we observed survival and reproduction of the tardigrade species endemic to Antarctica and revealed the life history and reproductive strategy of the terrestrial animals living in Antarctica. In addition, we succeeded in documenting recovery conditions and reproduction immediately following revival of tardigrades retrieved from a moss sample collected in Antarctica in 1983 and stored frozen for 30.5 years.

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] British Antarctic Survey(英国)
• [Journal Article] Effect of lifespan and age on reproductive performance of the tardigrade Acutuncus antarcticus : minimal reproductive senescence (2016)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto, M., Komori, O., and Imura, S
  • Journal Title: Hydrobiologia Volume: 772 Issue: 1 Pages: 93-102
  • DOI: 10.1007/s10750-016-2643-8
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Recovery and reproduction of an Antarctic tardigrade retrieved from a moss ample frozen for over 30 years (2016)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto, M., Imura, S., and Kanda, H
  • Journal Title: Cryobiology Volume: 72 Issue: 1 Pages: 78-81
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.cryobiol.2015.12.003
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Life history of the Antarctic tardigrade, Acutuncus antarcticus, under a constant laboratory environment (2015)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto, M., Suzuki A.C., and Imura, S
  • Journal Title: Polar Biology Volume: 38 Issue: 10 Pages: 1575-1581
  • DOI: 10.1007/s00300-015-1718-8
  • Peer Reviewed / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Presentation] Comparative transcriptome analysis of the Antarctic tardigrade, Acutuncus antarcticus, in response to changes in temperature (2017)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto, M., Yoshida, Y., Imura, S. and Arakawa K.
  • Organizer: XII SCAR Biology Symposium
  • Place of Presentation: Leuven, Belgium
  • Year and Date: 2017-07-10
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Reproductive strategy of the Antarctic tardigrade, Acutuncus antarcticus, contributing to its widespread distribution within Antarctica (2016)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto, M., Convey P. and Imura, S.
  • Organizer: VII Symposium on Polar Science
  • Place of Presentation: Tokyo, Japan
  • Year and Date: 2016-11-29
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Tardigrade diversity of Inhovde, Dronning Maud Land in East Antarctica (2016)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto M., Suzuki A.C., McInnes S.J., Convey P., Nakai R. and Imura S.
  • Organizer: VII Symposium on Polar Science
  • Place of Presentation: Tokyo, Japan
  • Year and Date: 2016-11-29
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] An undescribed tardigrade of genus Milesium from Inhovde, East Antarctica (2016)
  • Author(s): Suzuki A.C., Tsujimoto M., Kagoshima H. and Imura S.
  • Organizer: VII Symposium on Polar Science
  • Place of Presentation: Tokyo, Japan
  • Year and Date: 2016-11-29
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Life history strategy of the endemic tardigrade species, Acutuncus antarcticus (2016)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto, M., Convey P. and Imura, S.
  • Organizer: XXXIV SCAR Open Science Conference
  • Place of Presentation: Kuala Lumpur
  • Year and Date: 2016-08-22
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] How will the Antarctic terrestrial invertebrates respond to the change in the ambient temperature? (2015)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto, M. and Imura, S
  • Organizer: VI Symposium on Polar Science
  • Place of Presentation: National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan
  • Year and Date: 2015-11-17
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Effect of temperature on generation time and reproductive success in the Antarctic tardigrade, Acutuncus antarcticus (2015)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto, M. and Imura, S
  • Organizer: 13th International Symposium on Tardigrada
  • Place of Presentation: Modena, Italy
  • Year and Date: 2015-06-24
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Effect of temperature on generation time and reproductive sucess in the Antarctic tardigrade, Acutuncus antarcticus (2015)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto, M. and Imura, S.
  • Organizer: 13th International Symposium on Tardigrada
  • Place of Presentation: Modena, Italy
  • Year and Date: 2015-06-23 – 2015-06-26
• [Presentation] 南極クマムシAcutuncus antarcticusの15℃飼育下における生活史 (2014)
  • Author(s): 辻本惠・小森理・鈴木忠・伊村智
  • Organizer: 日本動物学会第85回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 東北大学川内北キャンパス、仙台
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-13
• [Presentation] Temperature affects the survival and reproduction of the Antarctic tardigrade, Acutuncus antarcticus (2014)
  • Author(s): Tsujimoto, M. and Imura, S.
  • Organizer: XXXIII SCAR Open Science Conference
  • Place of Presentation: Auckland, New Zealand
  • Year and Date: 2014-08-25
• [Remarks] 南極のクマムシ、30年を超える凍結保存から目覚め、繁殖に成功
  • URL: http://www.nipr.ac.jp/info/notice/20160114.html