Modelling the distribution of stygobionts in the Jura Mountains (eastern France). Implications for the protection of ground waters

Abstract

Ground waters have exceptional conservation value due to the high endemism of their biota, the high occurrence of species relicts and because they are the second most important reservoir of freshwater after the glaciers. We used habitat-based models to predict the distribution of obligate groundwater species (stygobionts) in the Jura Mountains, eastern France. Current and historical environmental variables were selected to predict the occurrence of 19 stygobionts collected in different groundwater habitats. Species occurrence was weakly correlated with most of the physico-chemical variables and better correlated to habitat type, elevation gradient, hydraulic conductivity and the distance of the last glacial event. We identified two main groups of species, those whose distributions correlated with the last glacial event and those that did not. Our findings suggested that abilities for migrate and opportunities for dispersal using connections among habitats may explain part of these distributions and that specific spatial components should be incorporated in future modelling. We propose the identification of rich-species areas and protection of the complete spectrum of GW habitats as pertinent measures to achieve the stygobitoic persistence.

Biodiversity, functional roles and ecosystem services of groundwater invertebrates

“…These groundwater metazoans (stygofauna) include many unique representatives of lineages from various geological periods and can exhibit extraordinary endemicity (Poore and Humphreys 1992;Harvey 2002;Humphreys 2006Humphreys , 2008. Globally, stygofauna comprises a significant component of total biodiversity (Rouch and Danielopol 1997;Sket 1999) and there are several 'hot-spots' of high subterranean biodiversity (Culver and Sket 2000;Danielopol and Pospisil 2001;Castellarini et al 2007), including parts of Australia (Bradbury and Williams 1997;Humphreys 2001;Karanovic and Marmonier 2003;Karanovic 2007). The arid zone in Western Australia is yielding especially interesting and diverse groundwater faunas (Humphreys 2001;Cooper et al 2002;Leys et al 2003) yet these regions are also where human pressures on groundwater are heaviest (Humphreys 2000;Hancock et al 2005).…”

Frontiers of Karst Research: Proceedings and recommendations of the workshop held in San Antonio, Texas on 3-5 May 2007. Karst Waters Institute Special Publication 13

“…On a broad regional scale, others have found other factors to be important, including distance to recent glaciation (Castellarini et al, 2007), hydraulic conductivity (Castellarini et al, 2007), and habitat availability (cave density) (Christman and Culver, 2001). At a smaller scale, chemical factors can be important, as has been shown by Pipan, Blejec, and Brancelj (2006).…”

Defining geo-habitats for groundwater ecosystem assessments: an example from England and Wales (UK)

“…Small-Pore Unconsolidated sediments were classified as a low quality geo-habitat, although porous aquifers harbour high biodiversity elsewhere (e.g. Eberhard et al, 2005;Castellarini et al, 2007;Griebler et al, 2010). In Small-Pore Unconsolidated sediments, grains only range between 0.06-0.25 mm in fine sands and up to 2 mm in coarse sands (Wentworth, 1922), with pore spaces likely excluding all larger metazoans (e.g.…”

“…In groundwater ecosystem studies, geologies have generally been amalgamated into broad habitat categories (e.g. Castellarini et al, 2007;Dole-Olivier et al, 2009;Hahn & Fuchs, 2009;Robertson et al, 2009;Johns et al, 2015). While fractured rocks are generally characterised by communities of low diversity and abundance (Hahn & Fuchs, 2009), karstic and porous rocks have been found to harbour more complex communities with higher diversity and abundance of both invertebrates and microbial biocenoses (Goldscheider et al, 2006;Robertson et al, 2009;Stoch et al, 2009;Gibert et al, 2009).…”

“…The need for more detailed typologies of groundwater habitats, incorporating hydrogeological and hydrochemical data, has been highlighted (Castellarini et al, 2007;Tomlinson & Boulton, 2010;Larned, 2012;Stein et al, 2012). Grouping geological strata into only a few units reduces the explanatory power of habitat frameworks, a problem which is further exacerbated by the heterogeneity of rocks Larned, 2012).…”