Collaborative Science for Groundwater Biodiversity Conservation

Depletion and quality degradation of groundwater ecosystems trigger impacts on diverse, highly specialized, and often locally endemic biota, ranging from microbes to cavefish. The extent to which groundwater ecosystems are threatened is alarming: underground biological extinction is already happening (Humphreys 2022). The full breadth of this challenge is unknown, yet the large-scale and widespread depletion and quality degradation of groundwater would suggest that groundwater ecosystem collapse may be extensive and with concerning implications.