Abstract
The purpose of this experiment is to test the effects of varying levels of the geomagnetic field on the mortality levels of the tardigrade species, Hypsibius dujardini, since different magnetic fields are present on other planets and tardigrades are extremophiles. Due to their extreme resilience, tardigrades could be a solution to humanity's overpopulation problem and its eventual migration to other planets through the possibility of biological terraformation. However, the effects of planetary factors such as magnetic fields must be tested to know if tardigrades can survive on those planets and start the terraformation process. In order to perform this experiment, a geomagnetic inhibitor was set at 0-1400mv at 200mv intervals, with 800mv as the control (Earth’s magnetic field level). Since tardigrades have lived on Earth for the past 500 million years, they should survive the most at 800mv and the least at levels farther from 800. 5 trials for each were set with 15 tardigrades each for every field level. The tardigrades were set to dry in the geomagnetic inhibitor for 24 hours at a time then rehydrated with spring water for 24 hours. Afterwards, the amount alive and dead were counted. The results show that the survivability of the tardigrades increased from 0mv to 800 at a logistic growth rate. However, from 800mv to 1400mv, the survivability decreased at a linear rate. Even though some tardigrades did not survive, every trial showed that at least 3 of the 15 tardigrades had survived. The high survivability at the Earth's magnetic field proved that tardigrade resistivity has evolved to be most effective on Earth but also works with other magnetic fields as well. So, even though my hypothesis was proven correct, these tardigrades could still survive on exoplanets and jumpstart their ecosystem, making terraformation a reality.