Sonny Disposition
Active Member
Ran across this really neat article on daphnia and other tiny crustaceans from The Scientist. Basically, it says that daphnia eggs appear to be inactive, showing no signs of metabolic activity. Their eggs--and those of other miniscule crustacean--can lie dormant for years and maybe even centuries before hatching!
Researchers are taking advantage of this trait to study how the organisms change in response to changes in their environment. They drill down into lake and pond sediments and recover eggs from past years (some as old as 75 years), hatch them, and then compare the old daphnia to contemporary daphnia.
Pretty neat!
http://www.the-scientist.com/2008/2/1/19/2/
Researchers are taking advantage of this trait to study how the organisms change in response to changes in their environment. They drill down into lake and pond sediments and recover eggs from past years (some as old as 75 years), hatch them, and then compare the old daphnia to contemporary daphnia.
Pretty neat!
http://www.the-scientist.com/2008/2/1/19/2/