Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DARKEST (Dark Estuaries: Mapping coastal aquifer biodiversity in a changing world)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2021-12-01 al 2023-11-30
Subterranean estuaries extend inland into coastal aquifers inhabited by a surprising diversity of subterranean animals with peculiar ecological and evolutionary features. The DARKEST project tackled the general questions of how do complex ecosystems thrive in this globally distributed habitat in different hydrological, geological, and biogeochemical settings. A holistic approach was used to bridge scientific disciplines across ecology and geosciences.
The goal of DARKEST was to understand how hydrogeological properties and chemical gradients shape biodiversity patterns in coastal aquifers and, ultimately, to quantify the impact of global environmental change on these subsurface coastal ecosystems. Three main objectives were defined at the beginning of this action:
Objective 1: Characterize large-scale faunistic diversity patterns across coastal aquifers with differing hydrogeological properties.
Objective 2: Identify how subterranean estuaries regulate faunistic diversity patterns in coastal aquifers.
Objective 3: Forecast the evolution of coastal groundwater ecosystems in response to global environmental change by projecting shifts in species distribution upon changes in hydrological and chemical conditions within the aquifer.
Objective 1 was achieved through the participation into the Stygofauna Mundi database and through the publication of a paper on pitfalls in preserving subterranean biodiversity through protected areas. The results of objective 2 were presented at the 6th International Symposium on Anchialine Ecosystems and in a publication in preparation. The results of objective 3 were published in a paper on the mechanisms and implications for carbon cycle and oxygenation during a tropical cyclone. The action was successfully concluded in all its aspects.
The goal of DARKEST was to understand how hydrogeological properties and chemical gradients shape biodiversity patterns in coastal aquifers and, ultimately, to quantify the impact of global environmental change on these subsurface coastal ecosystems. Three main objectives were defined at the beginning of this action:
Objective 1: Characterize large-scale faunistic diversity patterns across coastal aquifers with differing hydrogeological properties.
Objective 2: Identify how subterranean estuaries regulate faunistic diversity patterns in coastal aquifers.
Objective 3: Forecast the evolution of coastal groundwater ecosystems in response to global environmental change by projecting shifts in species distribution upon changes in hydrological and chemical conditions within the aquifer.
Objective 1 was achieved through the participation into the Stygofauna Mundi database and through the publication of a paper on pitfalls in preserving subterranean biodiversity through protected areas. The results of objective 2 were presented at the 6th International Symposium on Anchialine Ecosystems and in a publication in preparation. The results of objective 3 were published in a paper on the mechanisms and implications for carbon cycle and oxygenation during a tropical cyclone. The action was successfully concluded in all its aspects.
A total of 2 peer-reviewed open-access research paeprs of mine were published for publication during the 2-year DARKEST project in addition to one open-access dataset. I disseminated results at 3 international conferences, through 2 invited seminars, via press releases, and with other media.
The scientific part of the DARKEST project was organized into three Work Packages (WP). The first of these three WPs dealt with assembling and managing data (WP3 in the original proposal). The other two aimed at identifying ecological patterns and processes from local to macro scales (Objectives 1-2, WP4) and modelling ecosystem response to environmental change (Objective 3, WP5).
Preparing and working with the geochemical datasets (WP3 and WP4), we had to keep in mind that these parameters are highly variable through space and time, and this variability has key implications for the studied patterns and processes. Consequently, local studies remain essential in understanding the underlying mechanisms that regulate ecosystem-level processes in coastal aquifers. We demonstrated that stochastic weather events have a major influence on carbon cycling, geochemical dynamics, and hence ecosystem functioning in coastal aquifers, and published a paper (and an associated open-access data release) on the impact of tropical storms in coastal karst aquifers and discussed its implications for the carbon cycle and ecosystem functioning.
In addition, as part of WP3 and WP4, I contributed to expand the global subterranean fauna database (Stygofauna Mundi). Besides bringing to my host institution (CNR-IRSA) a new network of international researchers who contributed to the growing faunistic database, I made major contributions to refining subterranean faunistic maps in the Caribbean region, which is a biodiversity hotspot for fauna residing in coastal kart aquifers. I contributed to an accepted manuscript in accordance with the aims of DARKEST, titled “Perspectives and pitfalls in preserving subterranean biodiversity through protected areas”.
Completing the secondment at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research allowed me to learn to handle large hydrogeological database and initiate some of the planned analyses, described in WP4 and WP5. We built the first global hydrogeological database combined with subterranean faunistic data leading to promising preliminary results. This learning process inspired us to create a call for research papers on the topic for the broader research community and consequently I became a key author and contributor to a peer-reviewed editorial manuscript.
Throughout DARKEST, my scientific contributions were disseminated to diverse audiences, including through:
1) Three press releases out of two research papers.
2) Attending and giving talks at three international conferences.
3) Two invited seminars regarding DARKEST and my broader work in coastal aquifers.
4) Science outreach at a high school in Hungary, presenting at the European Researcher’s Night in Italy.
5) Online dissemination through social media. A video on tropical storms in Spanish (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsUfDNHDr18&t=2s) and in English (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyd8WfIggd4 as of 01-12-2023).
6) Dedicated website for the project and my personal research website (https://www2.whoi.edu/staff/dbrankovits/).
The scientific part of the DARKEST project was organized into three Work Packages (WP). The first of these three WPs dealt with assembling and managing data (WP3 in the original proposal). The other two aimed at identifying ecological patterns and processes from local to macro scales (Objectives 1-2, WP4) and modelling ecosystem response to environmental change (Objective 3, WP5).
Preparing and working with the geochemical datasets (WP3 and WP4), we had to keep in mind that these parameters are highly variable through space and time, and this variability has key implications for the studied patterns and processes. Consequently, local studies remain essential in understanding the underlying mechanisms that regulate ecosystem-level processes in coastal aquifers. We demonstrated that stochastic weather events have a major influence on carbon cycling, geochemical dynamics, and hence ecosystem functioning in coastal aquifers, and published a paper (and an associated open-access data release) on the impact of tropical storms in coastal karst aquifers and discussed its implications for the carbon cycle and ecosystem functioning.
In addition, as part of WP3 and WP4, I contributed to expand the global subterranean fauna database (Stygofauna Mundi). Besides bringing to my host institution (CNR-IRSA) a new network of international researchers who contributed to the growing faunistic database, I made major contributions to refining subterranean faunistic maps in the Caribbean region, which is a biodiversity hotspot for fauna residing in coastal kart aquifers. I contributed to an accepted manuscript in accordance with the aims of DARKEST, titled “Perspectives and pitfalls in preserving subterranean biodiversity through protected areas”.
Completing the secondment at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research allowed me to learn to handle large hydrogeological database and initiate some of the planned analyses, described in WP4 and WP5. We built the first global hydrogeological database combined with subterranean faunistic data leading to promising preliminary results. This learning process inspired us to create a call for research papers on the topic for the broader research community and consequently I became a key author and contributor to a peer-reviewed editorial manuscript.
Throughout DARKEST, my scientific contributions were disseminated to diverse audiences, including through:
1) Three press releases out of two research papers.
2) Attending and giving talks at three international conferences.
3) Two invited seminars regarding DARKEST and my broader work in coastal aquifers.
4) Science outreach at a high school in Hungary, presenting at the European Researcher’s Night in Italy.
5) Online dissemination through social media. A video on tropical storms in Spanish (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsUfDNHDr18&t=2s) and in English (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyd8WfIggd4 as of 01-12-2023).
6) Dedicated website for the project and my personal research website (https://www2.whoi.edu/staff/dbrankovits/).
Project DARKEST demonstrated, to the best of our knowledge for the first time, that it is possible to combine global subterranean fauna databases with biogeochemical data and high-resolution hydrogeological maps of the world’s aquifers. This crucial step is leading us towards an integrated understanding of the drivers of biodiversity patterns in coastal aquifer ecosystems and their response to global environmental change. This advancement was presented at the 6th International Symposium on Anchialine Ecosystems where I gave a talk titled “Illuminating environmental drivers of biodiversity patterns in coastal aquifers”. Further two publications, which are directly related to these efforts, are in preparation. Evidence arising from DARKEST is expected to provide an unprecedented overview on the interactions between the organisms and the environment, allowing us to define their ranges of tolerance for environmental parameters, a key result towards a better understanding of ecosystem functioning in coastal aquifers and their resilience to future perturbations. This approach offers a considerable improvement compared to current models that do not include data directly on the subterranean fauna, which are hard to sample and monitor, but only proxies. Other efforts I have been involved with during DARKEST show the usefulness and limitations of working with proxies for subterranean fauna.
In addition, DARKEST has contributed to the growing body of knowledge that groundwater fauna residing within the subterranean estuary portion of karstic coastal aquifers depend on biogeochemical reactions that are closely intertwined and, contrary to previous views, are greatly variable through time. To the best of our knowledge, we published the first high resolution chemical record from an anchialine ecosystem that documented the impact of a tropical storm and its effects on carbon cycling and ecosystem functioning. All these mechanisms have implications for forecasting the evolution of coastal groundwater ecosystems in response to global environmental change, another key DARKEST objective that will continue to yield further research products (e.g. currently one publication in preparation).
In addition, DARKEST has contributed to the growing body of knowledge that groundwater fauna residing within the subterranean estuary portion of karstic coastal aquifers depend on biogeochemical reactions that are closely intertwined and, contrary to previous views, are greatly variable through time. To the best of our knowledge, we published the first high resolution chemical record from an anchialine ecosystem that documented the impact of a tropical storm and its effects on carbon cycling and ecosystem functioning. All these mechanisms have implications for forecasting the evolution of coastal groundwater ecosystems in response to global environmental change, another key DARKEST objective that will continue to yield further research products (e.g. currently one publication in preparation).