Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve (GBBR)
The next time you see dirty looking snow, take a closer look and you may find thousands of little snow fleas!
These are not in the flea family at all, but instead are officially named springtails. These little critters are an important part of natural decomposition of leaves and other organic matter. Research on them has even shown possible applications to humans too
And amazing, that application is: How to safely preserving organs for human transplant!
A glycine-rich antifreeze protein was found to held snow fleas survive and move around in the winter. The protein was found to bind to ice, preventing it from growing larger and freezing these little arthropods. By learning more about and isolating this protein, researchers were able to look at it's potential to safely preserve organs for human transplantation!
