Caves and other subterranean habitats with their often strange (even bizarre) inhabitants have long been objects of fascination, curiosity, and debate. The question of how such organisms have evolved, and the relative roles of natural selection and genetic drift, has engaged subterranean biologists for decades. Indeed, these studies continue to inform the general theory of adaptation and evolution. Subterranean ecosystems generally exhibit little or no primary productivity and, as extreme ecosystems, provide general insights into ecosystem function. The Biology of Caves and other Subterranean Habitats offers a concise but comprehensive introduction to cave ecology and evolution. Whilst there is an emphasis on biological processes occurring in these unique environments, conservation and management aspects are also considered. The monograph includes a global range of examples from more than 25 countries, and case studies from both caves and non-cave subterranean habitats; it also provides a clear explanation of specialized terms used by speleologists. This accessible text will appeal to researchers new to the field and to the many professional ecologists and conservation practitioners requiring a concise but authoritative overview. Its engaging style will also make it suitable for undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in cave and subterranean biology. Its more than 650 references, 150 of which are new since the first edition, provide many entry points to the research literature.

The Biology of Caves and Other Subterranean Habitats

Environmental transitions often result in resource mixtures that overcome limitations to microbial metabolism, resulting in biogeochemical hotspots and moments. Riverine systems, where groundwater mixes with surface water (the hyporheic zone), are spatially complex and temporally dynamic, making development of predictive models challenging. Spatial and temporal variations in hyporheic zone microbial communities are a key, but understudied, component of riverine biogeochemical function. Here, to investigate the coupling among groundwater–surface water mixing, microbial communities and biogeochemistry, we apply ecological theory, aqueous biogeochemistry, DNA sequencing and ultra-high-resolution organic carbon profiling to field samples collected across times and locations representing a broad range of mixing conditions. Our results indicate that groundwater–surface water mixing in the hyporheic zone stimulates heterotrophic respiration, alters organic carbon composition, causes ecological processes to shift from stochastic to deterministic and is associated with elevated abundances of microbial taxa that may degrade a broad suite of organic compounds. Groundwater-surface water mixing zones link critical ecosystem domains, but attendant microbe-biogeochemistry-hydrology interactions are poorly known. Here, the authors show that groundwater-surface water mixing stimulates respiration, alters carbon composition, and shifts the ecology from stochastic to deterministic.

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Groundwater–surface water mixing shifts ecological assembly processes and stimulates organic carbon turnover

Groundwater-Surface Water Mixing Shifts Ecological Assembly Processes and Stimulates Organic Carbon Turnover

In spite of trying to understand processes in the same spatial domain, the catchment hydrology and water quality scientific communities are relatively disconnected and so are their respective models. This is emphasized by an inadequate representation of transport processes, in both catchment-scale hydrological and water quality models. While many hydrological models at the catchment scale only account for pressure propagation and not for mass transfer, catchment scale water quality models are typically limited by overly simplistic representations of flow processes. With the objective of raising awareness for this issue and outlining potential ways forward we provide a nontechnical overview of (1) the importance of hydrology-controlled transport through catchment systems as the link between hydrology and water quality; (2) the limitations of current generation catchment-scale hydrological and water quality models; (3) the concept of transit times as tools to quantify transport; and (4) the benefits of transit time based formulations of solute transport for catchment-scale hydrological and water quality models. There is emerging evidence that an explicit formulation of transport processes, based on the concept of transit times has the potential to improve the understanding of the integrated system dynamics of catchments and to provide a stronger link between catchment-scale hydrological and water quality models. WIREs Water 2016, 3:629-657. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1155 For further resources related to this article, please visit the .

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/wat2.1155

Transit times – the link between hydrology and water quality at the catchment scale

Details of Earth's shallow subsurface—a key component of the critical zone (CZ)—are largely obscured because making direct observations with sufficient density to capture natural characteristic spatial variability in physical properties is difficult. Yet this inaccessible region of the CZ is fundamental to processes that support ecosystems, society, and the environment. Geophysical methods provide a means for remotely examining CZ form and function over length scales that span centimeters to kilometers. Here we present a review highlighting the application of geophysical methods to CZ science research questions. In particular, we consider the application of geophysical methods to map the geometry of structural features such as regolith thickness, lithological boundaries, permafrost extent, snow thickness, or shallow root zones. Combined with knowledge of structure, we discuss how geophysical observations are used to understand CZ processes. Fluxes between snow, surface water, and groundwater affect weathering, groundwater resources, and chemical and nutrient exports to rivers. The exchange of gas between soil and the atmosphere have been studied using geophysical methods in wetland areas. Indirect geophysical methods are a natural and necessary complement to direct observations obtained by drilling or field mapping. Direct measurements should be used to calibrate geophysical estimates, which can then be used to extrapolate interpretations over larger areas or to monitor changing processes over time. Advances in geophysical instrumentation and computational approaches for integrating different types of data have great potential to fill gaps in our understanding of the shallow subsurface portion of the CZ and should be integrated where possible in future CZ research.

Multiscale geophysical imaging of the critical zone

The interface between groundwater and surface water within riverine/riparian ecosystems--the hyporheic zone (HZ)--is experiencing a rapid growth of research interest from a range of scientific disciplines, often with different perspectives. The majority of the multi-disciplinary research aims to elucidate HZ process dynamics and their importance for surface water and groundwater ecohydrology and biogeochemical cycling. This paper presents a critical inter-disciplinary review of recent advances of research centred on the HZ and highlights the current state of knowledge regarding hydrological, biogeochemical and ecohydrological process understanding. The spatial and temporal variability of surface water and groundwater exchange (hyporheic exchange flows), biogeochemical cycling and heat exchange (thermal regime) are considered in relation to both experimental measurements and modelling of these phenomena. We explore how this knowledge has helped to increase our understanding of HZ ecohydrology, and particularly its invertebrate community, the processing of organic matter, trophic cascading and ecosystem engineering by macrophytes and other organisms across a range of spatial and temporal scales. In addition to providing a detailed review of HZ functions, we present an inter-disciplinary perspective on how to advance and integrate HZ process understanding across traditional discipline boundaries. We therefore attempt to highlight knowledge gaps and research needs within the individual disciplines and demonstrate how innovations and advances in research, made within traditional subject-specific boundaries (e.g. hydrology, biochemistry and ecology), can be used to enhance inter-disciplinary scientific progress by cross-system comparisons and fostering of greater dialogue between scientific disciplines.

C. H. Heppell

Papers

Inter-disciplinary perspectives on processes in the hyporheic zone