Lecture 6 - Ground water Ecology Flashcards
What are Epigean Organisms
Surface dwelling
What are Hypogean Organisms:
living or growing underground or below the surface
That are Stygobiont/Stygofauna:
Term for groundwater-dwelling organisms
What is a Stygophile:
Surface-dwelling (epigean) species with incipient adaptation to the groundwater life and able to maintain permanent subterranean populations
What are Stygobites:
Obligate groundwater inhabiting species
What are Stygoxene:
Species only occurring sporadically in groundwater habitats without permanent subterranean populations
Some Defining Features of Groundwater organisms (7):
- Typically small
- Eyeless
- Colourless
- Adapted to dark
- Nutrient-poor
- Spatially contained
- Interstitial habitats
Groundwater Environments - Environmental Conditions (4):
- Decreased light
- Decreased Oxygen
- Increased Temperature
- Increased Sulfur
Groundwater Environments - Ecological Factors (8)
- Decreased organic carbon
- Increased oligotrophy
- Decreased photosynthesis
- Decrease predation
- Decreased competition
- Increased Detritivory
- Increased omnivory
- Increased chemoautotrophy
Groundwater Environments - Upper Boundary:
Ecological factors/interactions determine species limits
Groundwater Environments - Lower Boundary
Physiological factors determine species limits
Subterranean Evolution (3):
- Loss of eyes, pigmentation, wings, water regulatory processes, and various other physiological strategies
- Increase in appendage length and life span
- Decrease in the number of eggs (but increase in size and development time) and respiratory metabolism
What are the Most Abundant and Diverse Groups in Groundwater:
- Copepoda
- Isopoda
- Amphipoda
What Does Truncated Food Web Mean?
The lack of basal trophic levels leads to opportunism and redundancy with convergent evolution and high rates of endemism
