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Related Concept Videos

Keystone Species01:39

Keystone Species

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Measures of species biodiversity, such as richness (i.e., the number of species present) and evenness (i.e., their relative abundance), describe an ecological community’s structure. Many factors affect community structure, including abiotic factors (e.g., sunlight and nutrients), disturbances (e.g., fire or flood), species interactions (e.g., predation or competition), and chance events (e.g., foreign species invasion). Certain species—such as keystone species—also play a...
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The Carbon Cycle01:14

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Carbon is the basis of all organic matter on Earth, and is recycled through the ecosystem in two primary processes: one in which carbon is exchanged among living organisms, and one in which carbon is cycled over long periods of time through fossilized organic remains, weathering of rocks, and volcanic activity. Human activities, including increased agricultural practices and the burning of fossil fuels, has greatly affected the balance of the natural carbon cycle.
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The Water Cycle01:00

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The Earth’s hydrosphere includes all of the areas where the storage and movement of water occurs. Since water is the basis of all living processes, the cycling of water is extremely important to ecosystem dynamics.
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The Soil Ecosystem02:23

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Plants obtain inorganic minerals and water from the soil, which acts as a natural medium for land plants. The composition and quality of soil depend not only on the chemical constituents but also on the presence of living organisms. In general, soils contain three major components:
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Overview
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What are Biogeochemical Cycles?00:54

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The most common elements in organic molecules, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, are only available in the ecosystem in limited amounts. Therefore, these nutrients must be recycled through both biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem, in processes generally called biogeochemical cycles.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 4, 2025

BtM, a Low-cost Open-source Datalogger to Estimate the Water Content of Nonvascular Cryptogams
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Groundwater is a hidden global keystone ecosystem.

Mattia Saccò1,2, Stefano Mammola3,4,5, Florian Altermatt6,7

  • 1Subterranean Research and Groundwater Ecology (SuRGE) Group, Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Lab, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

Global Change Biology
|January 26, 2024
PubMed
Summary

Groundwater ecosystems, vital for biodiversity and essential services, are often overlooked. Recognizing groundwater as a keystone ecosystem is crucial for global conservation efforts and planetary health.

Keywords:
biodiversitybiomesclimate changeconservationecologyecosystemsgroundwater-dependent ecosystemsubterraneanwater cycle

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Hydrology
  • Conservation Biology

Background:

  • Groundwater ecosystems are critical components of the global water cycle, hosting unique biodiversity and providing essential services.
  • Despite being the largest unfrozen freshwater resource, groundwater environments are frequently overlooked in global conservation agendas due to extraction and pollution.
  • The importance of groundwater ecosystems in maintaining the integrity of surface biomes is often disregarded.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To advocate for the global conservation of groundwater ecosystems by proposing a new conceptual framework.
  • To highlight the critical role of groundwater in supporting biodiversity and ecosystem services.
  • To establish groundwater as a keystone ecosystem influencing dependent surface and subsurface environments.

Main Methods:

  • A global analysis was conducted to quantify the interaction between land surface areas and groundwater.
  • The concept of keystone species was extended to the ecosystem level to conceptualize groundwater's role.
  • Eight key themes were identified to inform an integrated science-policy groundwater conservation agenda.

Main Results:

  • Over half (52.6%) of global land surface areas exhibit medium-to-high interaction with groundwater, increasing to 74.9% when deserts and high mountains are excluded.
  • Groundwater's intrinsic transboundary features necessitate holistic approaches in aquatic ecology and conservation.
  • The study identified eight critical themes for developing a science-policy integrated groundwater conservation agenda.

Conclusions:

  • Elevating groundwater to the status of a keystone ecosystem is essential for effective global biodiversity conservation.
  • Integrating groundwater into planetary health considerations is pivotal for reducing biodiversity loss and mitigating climate change impacts.
  • A holistic, transboundary approach to groundwater management and conservation is required, intersecting aquatic ecology and policy-making.