Groundwater biodiversity in a chemoautotrophic cave ecosystem: how geochemistry regulates microcrustacean community structure

161

In this overview (introductory article to a special issue including 14 papers), we consider all main types of natural and artificial inland freshwater habitas (fwh). For each type, we identify the main biodiversity patterns and ecological features, human impacts on the system and environmental issues, and discuss ways to use this information to improve stewardship. Examples of selected key biodiversity/ecological features (habitat type): narrow endemics, sensitive (groundwater and GDEs); crenobionts, LIHRes (springs); unidirectional flow, nutrient spiraling (streams); naturally turbid, floodplains, large-bodied species (large rivers); depth-variation in benthic communities (lakes); endemism and diversity (ancient lakes); threatened, sensitive species (oxbow lakes, SWE); diverse, reduced littoral (reservoirs); cold-adapted species (Boreal and Arctic fwh); endemism, depauperate (Antarctic fwh); flood pulse, intermittent wetlands, biggest river basins (tropical fwh); variable hydrologic regime—periods of drying, flash floods (arid-climate fwh). Selected impacts: eutrophication and other pollution, hydrologic modifications, overexploitation, habitat destruction, invasive species, salinization. Climate change is a threat multiplier, and it is important to quantify resistance, resilience, and recovery to assess the strategic role of the different types of freshwater ecosystems and their value for biodiversity conservation. Effective conservation solutions are dependent on an understanding of connectivity between different freshwater ecosystems (including related terrestrial, coastal and marine systems).

Section: Freshwater Habitat Type Biodiversity and Ecological Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics, Main Impacts, and Stewardship of Natural and Artificial Freshwater Environments: Consequences for Biodiversity Conservation

Cantonati

Poikāne

Pringle

et al. 2020

161

“…Despite the sampling difficulties, groundwater ecologists have collected enough information to outline the distributional patterns of many stygobiotic taxa. We know, for instance, that the distribution of stygofauna is not uniform in the aquifer, but that most of the species, which do not have adaptations to withstand fast flows, tend to colonize the habitats where the groundwater flow is low ( [36][37][38] and references therein). Most of the species are collected from the small fractures and dissolution fissures (apertures from about one millimeter to a few centimeters) of the karst network, rather than in the fast drains [37,[39][40][41].…”

Section: Impact Of Marble Slurry On Karst Stygofaunamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We know, for instance, that the distribution of stygofauna is not uniform in the aquifer, but that most of the species, which do not have adaptations to withstand fast flows, tend to colonize the habitats where the groundwater flow is low ( [36][37][38] and references therein). Most of the species are collected from the small fractures and dissolution fissures (apertures from about one millimeter to a few centimeters) of the karst network, rather than in the fast drains [37,[39][40][41]. Groundwater flow is therefore the main organizing factor for karst communities [42] and in extreme cases, such as in the event of an earthquake, the massive earthquake-induced flow discharge can trigger a huge washout of groundwater fauna with a destructive effect on the biological assemblages [36].…”

Section: Impact Of Marble Slurry On Karst Stygofaunamentioning

confidence: 99%

Marble Slurry’s Impact on Groundwater: The Case Study of the Apuan Alps Karst Aquifers

Piccini

Lorenzo

Costagliola

et al. 2019

Self Cite

Modern sawing techniques employed in ornamental stones’ exploitation produce large amounts of slurry that can be potentially diffused into the environment by runoff water. Slurry produced by limestone and marble quarrying can impact local karst aquifers, negatively affecting the groundwater quality and generating a remarkable environmental and economic damage. A very representative case-study is that of the Apuan Alps (north-western Tuscany, Italy) because of the intensive marble quarrying activity. The Apuan Alps region extends over about 650 km2; it hosts several quarries, known all over the world for the quality of the marble extracted, and a karst aquifer producing about 70,000 m3/day of high-quality water used directly for domestic purposes almost without treatments. In addition, Apuan Alps are an extraordinary area of natural and cultural heritage hosting many caves (about 1200), karst springs and geosites of international and national interest. During intense rain events, carbonate slurry systematically reaches the karst springs, making them temporarily unsuitable for domestic uses. In addition, the deterioration of the water quality threatens all the hypogean fauna living in the caves. This paper provides preliminary insights of the hydrological and biological indicators that can offer information about the impact of the marble quarrying activities on groundwater resources, karst habitats and their biodiversity.

“…Groundwater ecosystems are generally poorer in nutrients and oxygen than surface water ecosystems [12][13][14][15][36][37][38][39][40]. In order to reduce energetic costs, groundwater ectotherms have evolved metabolic rates that are lower than those of their close epigean relatives [20,[41][42][43][44].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Temperature Rising on the Stygobitic Crustacean Species Diacyclops belgicus: Does Global Warming Affect Groundwater Populations?

Lorenzo

Galassi

2017

Self Cite

Abstract:The average global temperature is predicted to increase by 3 • C by the end of this century due to human-induced climate change. The overall metabolism of the aquatic biota will be directly affected by rising temperatures and associated changes. Since thermal stability is a characteristic of groundwater ecosystems, global warming is expected to have a profound effect on the groundwater fauna. The prediction that stygobitic (obligate groundwater dweller) species are vulnerable to climate change includes assumptions about metabolic effects that can only be tested by comparisons across a thermal gradient. To this end, we investigated the effects of two different thermal regimes on the metabolism of the stygobitic copepod species Diacyclops belgicus (Kiefer, 1936). We measured the individual-based oxygen consumption of this species as a proxy of possible metabolic reactions to temperature rising from 14 to 17 • C. We used a sealed glass microplate equipped with planar oxygen sensor spots with optical isolation glued onto the bottom of 80-µL wells integrated with a 24-channel fluorescence-based respirometry system. The tests have provided controversial results according to which the D. belgicus populations should be prudently considered at risk under a global warming scenario.