Phylum Bigots!!!

If vegetarians knew what really lived in the soil, they would cry everytime a seed was thrust into the ground.

I am serious.

I met Dr Elaine Ingham 7 years ago and got a lecture on the soil food web. There are literally millions of undiscovered species of microscopic organisms in the soil and the ocean. ( I have seen jars of unidentified white eyeless arthropods pulled from the soil in Texas that have no match. )

Some of the Arthropods in their dormant state can withstand temps > 300 degrees F ( near absolute zero ) and thousands of atmospheres of pressure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade

Tardigrades have been known to withstand the following extremes while in this state:

Temperature � tardigrades can survive being heated for a few minutes to 151�C or being chilled for days at -200�C, or for a few minutes at -272�C. (1� warmer than absolute zero).[11]

Pressure � they can withstand the extremely low pressure of a vacuum and also very high pressures, many times greater than atmospheric pressure. It has recently been demonstrated that tardigrades can survive the vacuum of open space and solar radiation combined for at least 10 days.[12]

Recent research has notched up another feat of endurance: they can withstand 6,000 atmospheres pressure, which is nearly six times the pressure of water in the deepest ocean trench. [13]

Dehydration - tardigrades have been shown to survive nearly one decade in a dry state.[14] Another researcher reported that a tardigrade survived over a period of 120 years in a dehydrated state, but soon died after 2 to 3 minutes.[15]

Subsequent research has cast doubt on its accuracy since it was only a small movement in the leg.[16]

Radiation � as shown by Raul M. May from the University of Paris, tardigrades can withstand 5,700 grays or 570,000 rads of x-ray radiation. (Ten to twenty grays or 1,000�2,000 rads could be fatal to a human). The only explanation thus far for this ability is that their lowered hydration state provides fewer reactants for the ionizing radiation.

Recent experiments conducted by Cai and Zabder have also shown that these tardigrades can undergo chemobiosis � a cryptobiotic response to high levels of environmental toxins. However, their results have yet to be verified.[17][18]

In September 2008, a space launch showed that tardigrades can survive the extreme environment of outer space for 10 days. After being rehydrated back on earth, over 68% of the subjects protected from high-energy UV radiation survived and many of these produced viable embryos, and a handful survived full exposure to the sun.[19]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_food_web