Defining geo-habitats for groundwater ecosystem assessments: an example from England and Wales (UK)
Defining geo-habitats for groundwater ecosystem assessments: an example from England and Wales (UK)
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DOI：
10.1007/s10040-017-1629-6
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发表时间：
2017-07
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Damiano C. Weitowitz;L. Maurice;M. Lewis;J. Bloomfield;J. Reiss;A. Robertson
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Damiano C. Weitowitz;L. Maurice;M. Lewis;J. Bloomfield;J. Reiss;A. Robertson
由微生物和后生动物组成的地下水生态系统对全球生物多样性做出了重要贡献。它们的复杂性取决于地质学，地质学决定了可用的物理栖息地及其内部的化学条件。尽管如此，利用地质数据对地下水栖息地进行分类的方法尚未建立，研究人员呼吁采用更高分辨率的栖息地框架。提出了英格兰和威尔士（英国）的一种新的栖息地类型学，该类型学根据水文地质原理区分了 11 个地质栖息地（地理栖息地）并绘制了它们的分布图。水文地质和水化学数据用于确定每个地质栖息地的特征，并证明它们的差异。利用这些非生物参数，开发了一种确定非生物栖息地质量的新方法。地理栖息地具有显着不同的特征，验证了分类系统。所有地理栖息地都高度异质，既包含可能适合动物群的高质量栖息地斑块，也包含可能限制动物群分布的低质量区域。岩溶和多孔生境的质量通常高于破碎生境。总体而言，英格兰和威尔士 70% 的地区被低质量的破碎栖息地覆盖，只有 13% 被高质量的栖息地覆盖。优质栖息地的主要区域位于英格兰中部，呈南北走向带，可能有利于沿该轴线的扩散。它们被低质量的地理栖息地隔开，这可能会阻止动物群的东西向扩散。在英格兰西南部和威尔士，适宜的地理栖息地以孤立的小斑块形式存在。总体而言，本文提供了一种新的国家规模类型学，适用于其他地理区域的研究。
Groundwater ecosystems comprising micro-organisms and metazoans provide an important contribution t4o global biodiversity. Their complexity depends on geology, which determines the physical habitat available, and the chemical conditions within it. Despite this, methods of classifying groundwater habitats using geological data are not well established and researchers have called for higher resolution habitat frameworks. A novel habitat typology for England and Wales (UK) is proposed, which distinguishes 11 geological habitats (geo-habitats) on hydrogeological principles and maps their distribution. Hydrogeological and hydrochemical data are used to determine the characteristics of each geo-habitat, and demonstrate their differences. Using these abiotic parameters, a new method to determine abiotic habitat quality is then developed. The geo-habitats had significantly different characteristics, validating the classification system. All geo-habitats were highly heterogeneous, containing both high quality habitat patches that are likely to be suitable for fauna, and areas of low quality that may limit faunal distributions. Karstic and porous habitats generally were higher quality than fractured habitats. Overall, 70% of England and Wales are covered by lower quality fractured habitats, with only 13% covered by higher quality habitats. The main areas of high quality habitats occur in central England as north-south trending belts, possibly facilitating dispersal along this axis. They are separated by low quality geo-habitats that may prevent east-west dispersal of fauna. In south-west England and Wales suitable geo-habitats occur as small isolated patches. Overall, this paper provides a new national-scale typology that is adaptable for studies in other geographic areas.