Journal Article
Aquifers: the ultimate groundwater-dependent ecosystems
Humphreys, W.F.
Record Number:
5586
Year:
2006
Journal:
Autralian Journal of Botany
Pages:
115-132
Volume:
54
Abstract:
Abstract. Australian aquifers support diverse metazoan faunas comprising obligate groundwater inhabitants,
largely crustaceans but also including insects, worms, gastropods, mites and fish. They typically comprise shortrange
endemics, often of relictual lineages and sometimes widely vicariant from their closest relatives. They have
been confined to subterranean environments from a range of geological eras and may contain information on the
deep history of aquifers. Obligate groundwater fauna (stygobites) occurs in the void spaces in karst, alluvial and
fractured rock aquifers. They have convergent morphologies (reduction or loss of eyes, pigment, enhanced nonoptic
senses, vermiform body form) and depend on energy imported from the surface except in special cases
of in situ chemoautotrophic energy fixation. In Australia, many stygofaunas in arid areas occur in brackish to
saline waters, although they contain taxa from lineages generally restricted to freshwater systems. They may occur
alongside species belonging to taxa considered typical of the marine littoral although far removed in space and
time from marine influence. The ecological attributes of stygofauna makes them vulnerable to changes in habitat,
which, combined with their taxonomic affinities, makes them a significant issue to biodiversity conservation. The
interaction of vegetation and groundwater ecosystems is discussed and, in places, there are conservation issues
common to both.
Times Cited:
3