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I Found Prehistoric Life Hidden in a Forest Puddle — Transcript

by Edgars Fish Channel · 3,326 words · 488 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:01hello friends and welcome back to the channel
0:04today we're exploring a world of animals
0:07that is fighting against time
0:10the world of vernal ponds in the German forests
0:14these ponds only exist for four to 12 weeks
0:17at the beginning of each year
0:19when the spring rain starts right after winter
0:22and the animals that live in there
0:24they have to hatch
0:25grow and reproduce within four to 12 weeks only
0:29today we'll explore fairy shrimp
0:32tadpole shrimp
0:33cadisfly larvae and many
0:35many more animals in this video so let's dive right in
0:46the first species
0:47we'll explore today is the fairy shrimp
0:51fairy shrimp live all over the world
0:53and in Germany
0:54we have a particular species of translucent
0:56fairy shrimp
0:57they are living in these waters
0:59only at the beginning of each year
1:01fairy shrimp have 11 pairs of legs
1:04those legs have different functionalities
1:06they are called filopodia
1:08and have three main functionalities
1:10on the one hand side
1:11they act as gills helping the fairy shrimp to breathe
1:15they also work as swimming paddles
1:18helping them to move through the water column
1:20and they act as food filters
1:22basically
1:24acting as their mouths
1:25to filter microorganisms out of the water
1:29they have a super high metabolic rate
1:31so when a human has a heart rate
1:33or a resting heart rate of around 60 beats per minute
1:36they have around 250 beats per minute in their hearts
1:40which is quite impressive
1:41I think for such small creatures
1:44they are naturally camouflaged
1:46that means they are translucent
1:48and they only change colour
1:50or only show a colour when they eat certain compounds
1:53for instance certain algae
1:55or other stuff
1:56that makes their intestines look orange or greenish at
1:59sometimes and also other colours are possible
2:02ferry shrimp are usually 2 to 3 cm
2:05that's around 1 inch long
2:07and have a very interesting reproduction strategy
2:10these German fairy shrimps are very special
2:12compared to other fairy shrimp all around the world
2:15because they hatch when it's still extremely cold
2:19when it's right after the freezing point of water
2:21so right after 0 degrees Celsius they start to hatch
2:26that is often the case when snow melts for instance
2:29and the eggs of the fairy shrimp
2:30that were laid the year before
2:33are in getting in contact with uh
2:35wet water that is not ice anymore
2:37then they start to hatch
2:39and this gives them a huge advantage
2:40since fairy shrimp are translucent
2:42and don't have a lot of Protection against predators
2:45this is their best survival strategy so to say
2:48to survive in the German waters
2:50and in the German spring so to say
2:52or between the time of winter and spring
2:55because they are just the earliest creatures to arrive
2:58the fairy shrimp lay eggs
3:00they are also called cysts
3:02and they are almost indestructible
3:04I mean indestructible on quotation marks
3:07but they are resistant against freezing temperatures
3:11against desiccation
3:12against freezing or extreme freezing temperatures
3:15and even against the digestive tracts of birds
3:18that means
3:19if you think about a bird like a Mallard duck
3:21or a Egyptian goose that is uh
3:25quite common here in Germany at this point in time
3:27when they enter such a pond or a local Forest River
3:31or creek rather
3:33and they get in contact with the shrimp eggs
3:37or they on accident eat those eggs
3:39then the
3:40the eggs they get through their digestive system
3:43and once the bird enters the next local creek
3:45local pond or local puddle and the
3:48the shrimp eggs accidentally enter this one
3:51they can just repopulate that whole puddle
3:53that means that rather randomly
3:56new ponds can be populated with fairy shrimp
4:00all at once
4:03these X have another feature that is quite neat
4:05in nature
4:06they can survive for more than 10 years in a dried pond
4:09or in a dried river bed and once water touches them
4:13they are re ignited
4:16so to say and can start the whole process again
4:20they have an interesting ecological role
4:23so fairy shrimp are filter feeders as I mentioned
4:26they have these 11 pairs of legs
4:28which help them to filter the water
4:30and this means that they constantly remove bacteria
4:33protozoa algae
4:35microorganisms that are way smaller than them
4:38and organic matter out of the water
4:40making the water clear
4:41and filtering it for other species
4:44also by doing that
4:45they convert microscopic algae which are protein poor
4:51let's say
4:52into very protein rich food source for other animals
4:55for higher trophic layers so to say
4:57because the fairy shrimp themselves
4:59as tons of other crustaceans
5:01have very high protein contents
5:04so basically you could say
5:05they are the first major protein source after winter
5:08for other animals and higher trophic layers
5:12in those vernal ponds and pools
5:15they have an interesting connection to birds
5:17if a bird drinks from a puddle
5:19and ingests some of the fairy shrimp eggs
5:21they can transport
5:23those eggs to another puddles and other pools
5:26they are there are some rather large predators
5:30I mean large in quotation marks
5:32because the fairy shrimp are very tiny
5:34that can eat them
5:36one of them is for instance the tadpole shrimp
5:38the tadpole shrimp is so to say
5:40the king of these uh
5:41little pools and ponds here in the forest
5:43tadpole shrimp are on the one hand side
5:45competing with fairy shrimp
5:47because they are omnivorous
5:48that means they eat practically
5:50everything that fits into their mouths
5:52but they will also prey on smaller fairy shrimp
5:54but more about the tadpole shrimp in a minute
5:57fairy shrimp constantly swim in open water
6:00therefore they are not really competing with
6:03let's say mayfly nymphs for instance
6:05and caddis fly larvae
6:06which we will also cover in a minute
6:08those animals on the one hand side eat the same stuff
6:11they eat bio film they eat protozoa
6:13they eat smaller algae and all that kind of things
6:15so mostly herbivorous nutrition I would say
6:19but they they inhabit another niche
6:23so they the caddisfly larvae and the mayfly nymph
6:25they more live on the ground of the little puddles and
6:29and creeks
6:30while the fairy shrimp lives in the open water column
6:34and a fairy shrimp's whole lifespan
6:37from hatching to death is roughly 40 to 90 days
6:42so not even a quarter of a year
6:44which is extremely short and this is only due to that
6:48fact that they have adapted perfectly to these
6:50spring pools that at the beginning of the summer
6:53they start to emerge from melting water in Germany
6:58and then at one point they dry out
7:00and within that time
7:01the whole life cycle of a fairy shrimp has to be
7:03completed for me
7:06this almost sounds like a like a fairy tale basically
7:10hence the name fairy shrimp
7:13the next that is on our list is the caddisfly larvae
7:16caddisfly larvae are insects not crustaceans
7:19so compared to fairy shrimp
7:21they are completely unrelated
7:23I would say they reach 1 to 4 cm in length
7:26which is like 2 to let's 1 to 2 inches
7:29they live a few months in this larval stage underwater
7:33and then for one to four weeks
7:36they live out of the water or at yeah
7:39on on the air so to say
7:41in order to mate
7:43and you could basically
7:45see these caterpillar larvae as underwater moths
7:48underwater moths or underwater butterflies
7:50they are the closest living
7:52animals that are related to moths and butterflies
7:55but they have completely adapted to a life underwater
7:58which I think is extremely interesting
8:00if you think about it
8:01and somehow they also look similar to
8:04to moths and butterflies at least they're
8:07their mouth parts and the
8:10the front part of their body of course
8:12if you look at the lower part of their body
8:14or at their abdomen
8:16it looks quite unusual for an insect
8:18it looks like they have a
8:20a house that they carry with themselves
8:22and this is actually what they do
8:24what they do they build their own cases
8:26and the way they do this is
8:28they produce a bioadhesive silk
8:31that when it gets into contact with water
8:34and these animals are always constantly underwater
8:37it directly hardens
8:38and it is used to attach other structures
8:42for instance sand stone
8:44but also twigs and leaves to
8:47to their abdomen basically
8:49in this way they build their own protective shell
8:51that protects them against predators
8:53and also have some camouflage themselves
8:57they have different kind of materials
8:59that they use for this
9:00and there's also a fun fact that I found out
9:02and maybe I can also insert some pictures here
9:05some artists gave them gold and jewel
9:08and jewels to build their
9:10their cases with and they actually did that
9:13so the little caterpillar
9:14larvae built little golden cases for themselves
9:18which looks very interesting
9:19I don't know if it's too animal friendly to be honest
9:22but it's definitely interesting that they do that
9:24and the caterpillar larvae that we have in these local
9:27puddles and creeks here they usually use leaves
9:29so just like a fallen leaf from a tree
9:33it's actually quite uh nice taste uh smelling one
9:37this will fall into the creek
9:40and the caddisflies they use it to build their
9:43their cases with that once it's submerged underwater
9:48and they are recyclers
9:49they not only use leaves to build their cases
9:53they also decompose fallen leaves and eat them
9:56basically they turn nutrients into protein again
10:00and can be preyed upon by larger animals
10:03and act as a protein layer
10:05as well
10:07they have a low tolerance for water pollution
10:09and in agricultural areas
10:11they often have a hard time
10:12this is the same for fairy shrimp
10:14actually surviving because of pesticides
10:16herbicides and high fertilizers
10:20uh or artificial fertilizers
10:21because they need high water quality
10:23and very high water purity
10:25and the next animal that we have on our list is
10:28the first one that is actually
10:30a little more dangerous to the other ones
10:33it's the tadpole shrimp
10:35and tadpole shrimp have their name
10:37because of their shape
10:38they basically look like tadpoles
10:40I mean if you look at the tadpole shrimp
10:42and the tadpole next to each other
10:43they have this typical thick body
10:46and then the small tail
10:47that is just this typical tadpole shape
10:49that's why they are called tadpole shrimp
10:51and the specific species that we have in German puddles
10:55creeks lakes
10:56rivers is called lepidurus apus in Latin
11:01it gets 4 to 6 centimeters
11:03so 2 to 3 inches tall or long rather
11:06and it has a lifespan of one to three months
11:08so very comparable to our fairy shrimp
11:11that we've discussed at the beginning of our video
11:14but a little bit of a different ecological niche
11:17for those tadpole shrimp so they they have the same uh
11:23problem like our fairy shrimp
11:25they have to finish the whole cycle of life
11:28within those one to 3 months
11:30when the German creeks and ponds
11:33are created by the melting water
11:36and when they when they dry up again
11:38they have to fit their whole lifespan into that
11:40and if they don't manage to reproduce
11:42by the end of that time period
11:44they just die
11:44and cannot create any offspring for the next year
11:48for the next season
11:49they hatch usually shortly after the fairy shrimp
11:53and I don't know why that actually is the case
11:56but an a simple explanation for that would be
11:59that the fairy shrimp they hatch first
12:02and since tadpole shrimp often prey upon fairy shrimp
12:05the the
12:07the small delay helps them to have at least
12:09some kind of prey that they can
12:11pray upon however
12:13the tadpole shrimp is an omnivore
12:14they will eat basically everything next to fairy shrimp
12:18also bio film
12:20they usually also sift through the sediment to
12:24to find food there and they are basically omnivorous
12:27but of course
12:28they are welcoming any kind of protein rich snack
12:31such as the fairy shrimp and they usually hatch
12:36not at 0 degrees Celsius like the fairy shrimp
12:38but more between 4 and 10 degrees Celsius
12:41so a little later during the year
12:43with regards to reproduction
12:45they also have an interesting strategy
12:47you must keep in mind
12:48that they have been around for a very long time for
12:51actually for a very very long time
12:54so tadpole shrimp have been living in our planet
12:57in our rivers ponds
12:59puddles for roughly 200 million years
13:02that's actually older than the t
13:04Rex
13:05they have been around for 200 million years
13:07and there's a reason for that
13:08they have very interesting reproductive strategies
13:10similar to those of the fairy shrimp
13:12but in many ways even more extreme
13:14and what I mean by that is that tadpole shrimp
13:17at least
13:18the Lepidurus apus that we have here in Germany
13:20I don't know about the other ones
13:22they are hermaphrodites
13:23that means they have both genders in one animal
13:27that means that two animals
13:29two random animals of any population
13:31can meet and can mate
13:33and it's always the case that they have both sexes
13:36and they can also fertilize themselves
13:38and that helps them
13:40because if you assume that maybe one egg
13:42that is attached to the feathers of a bird
13:44or that was eaten by
13:46a bird or that was just randomly put into a puddle
13:50by chance if it ends there
13:52it can end up repopulating that whole puddle
13:56that whole pond with just one animal
13:58and that helped them getting
14:01from 200 million years ago to
14:03to today basically and surviving until then
14:07their eggs can compared to the fairy shrimp
14:10survive for a very long time as well
14:11but while the fairy shrimps
14:13eggs can survive for around 20 years
14:16the tadpole shrimp eggs can uh
14:19survive for around 20+ years and they can also resist
14:25freezing and resist uh droughts as well
14:27and tadpole shrimp are found all over the world
14:30Lepidus apis is one species that is spread over Eurasia
14:34and North Africa
14:36and they are actually listed on the Red List in
14:38and are critically endangered
14:40but endangered in Germany
14:42that's also the reason why we don't
14:44or why I don't intend to show
14:46where we actually found them
14:48and why I filmed this video today at another place
14:51in front of a local
14:52local forest creek
14:53and not in front of the original place
14:55where we found them
14:56because we want to protect the place
14:58or the location where we found them
15:00so no one goes there
15:02and actually gets them for their aquarium or anything
15:04because because they are in fact endangered diet
15:07they are omnivores or opportunistic feeders rather
15:11so they will usually sift through the
15:13through the MUD and eat whatever they find there
15:16plants and detritus
15:18but also they will eat uh smaller fairy shrimp
15:21and even if guys uh scares
15:24then they will eat other tadpole shrimp
15:26now that we've covered the tadpole shrimp
15:29the fairy shrimp and the caddisfly larvae
15:32there's one more insect that I would like to cover
15:34which is the mayfly nymph
15:35the mayfly nymph has a super interesting gills
15:38in my opinion
15:39they are moving and leaf like gills
15:41and they are used for oxygen extraction
15:43they don't have this other functionality
15:45like in the fairy Trumps case
15:47where they are also used for moving
15:49for moving they just use legs
15:52they molt up to 50 times before they exit the water
15:56which is very interesting
15:57I think there's almost no other insect that molts
16:00that often in its life that lives underwater
16:02or probably even not underwater
16:05this is probably one of the insects
16:06that has the most molts in its life
16:10mayfly nymphs
16:11Grace on biofilm and decaying plant matter
16:13and then are completely herbivorous
16:15so despite them looking quite horrifying and sinister
16:20I think they look very similar to dragonfly nymphs
16:23actually
16:23they are completely herbivorous and they wouldn't
16:26they eat I think they cannot even digest other animals
16:29such as the fairy shrimp
16:30they live one to 2 years in these ponds underwater
16:34also sometimes in local creeks until they hatch
16:39and then they only live for a very
16:41very few days out of water
16:43and only to find a mate and to reproduce
16:47and they're the very interesting
16:49their adult form
16:50and you can actually see some of them flying around
16:52here in the video I think there was one
16:54the the very interesting thing is that
16:56their adult form doesn't even have a mouth to eat
17:00so they only get out of the water in order to mate
17:03and then they die after a few days
17:06when they have reproduced and put eggs into the water
17:08again
17:09another interesting and probably also
17:11the last animal that we will cover today
17:14is the water bug or the back swimmer
17:17the waterbuck
17:18is a animal that appears after the fairy shrimp
17:22and the tadpole shrimp are already there
17:24so it requires even a little warmer temperatures
17:27and it's um
17:28the APEX predator in this little ecosystem
17:31at least the the
17:32the highest trophic layer
17:34that we will cover in today's video
17:37the waterbuck lives up to 1 year and is a true predator
17:41basically it's not like the tadpole shrimp
17:43where it sometimes eats plants
17:44sometimes eats animals and sometimes even its own
17:47its own brothers and sisters
17:49it's a true predator
17:50it injects toxic saliva into a
17:54into its prey so it dissolves from the inside out
17:58and then it can suck out whatever is in the prey
18:01which is quite painful for the animals and kill
18:04kills them and the
18:05the sting of a water beetle
18:08or a water bug rather
18:10is also very painful for humans
18:12they prey upon young tadpole shrimp
18:16and also upon fairy shrimp
18:18they are found in nearly
18:19in all still fresh waters around the world
18:22and now when the summer nears
18:24at the end of spring in Germany
18:27all of these small puddles and rivers will dry up
18:31and unfortunately
18:32all of our main protagonists of today's video will die
18:36and the not all of them
18:39the mayfly nymph and the caddisfly larvae develop
18:41metamorphose into the adult form and try to reproduce
18:45but the tadpole shrimp and fairy shrimp actually die
18:48and before they die they have to lay their eggs
18:50the eggs will dry up and then they need actually
18:52a cold shock at the end of the year
18:55at the beginning of the next year
18:57when the winter comes and after that
18:59they are reactivated once the ice melts and the
19:02the ponds are filled with water again
19:05and then they will fill the pools and ponds
19:07with little shrimplets again
19:09a single scoop of that of that forest soil
19:13can actually have hundreds
19:15or even thousands of eggs of these little shrimp in it
19:18and I think that is super
19:19super fascinating if you think about the
19:22the possibilities
19:23that you have with such a little scoop
19:25this is a great moment to say
19:28thank you to all of our channel members
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19:53if you enjoyed this video
19:55I'm sure you would enjoy watching
19:57this video about the effect of invasive fish
20:00on German rivers and lakes
20:03or this video thanks for watching

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