The vertical dimension of conservation: A cost-effective plan to incorporate subterranean ecosystems in post-2020 biodiversity and climate change agendas

地下生态系统拥有广泛多样的专门和地方性生物，占全球分类，系统发育和功能多样性的独特部分。此外，它们为人类提供了至关重要的自然资源，特别是为世界一半以上的人口提供了饮用水。然而，这些看不见的生态系统在2020年后的生物多样性和气候变化目标中被系统地忽视了。只有6.9%的已知地下生态系统与全球保护区网络重叠，其中只有几个区域的设计考虑到了它们的垂直维度。造成这种缺乏保护的主要障碍有两个。第一，地下生物多样性格局基本上仍未绘制地图。其次，我们缺乏对地下物种对人类引起的扰动的反应的机械理解。DarCo项目旨在绘制整个欧洲的地下生物多样性模式，并制定一项明确的计划，将地下生态系统纳入2030年欧洲联盟（欧盟）生物多样性战略。为此，我们建立了一个多学科团队，由来自欧洲各国的地下生物学，宏观生态学和保护科学的领先科学家组成。该项目分为三个相互关联的工作包，专门用于直接研究（WP 2 -4），加上第四个工作包（WP 5），旨在最大限度地传播成果和利益相关者参与实施实际保护。首先，通过编译现有的数据库和利用国际合作者的毛细血管网络，我们将收集所有主要地下动物群体的分布数据，特征和遗传，包括甲壳类动物，软体动物，昆虫和脊椎动物（WP 2）。这些数据将用于预测物种对人类威胁的反应，使用物种群落层次模型（WP 3）。模型对生物多样性变化的预测将为欧洲地下生命的首次动态绘图提供基础。通过交叉多样性模式，威胁和保护区的地图，我们将设计一个计划，以保护地下生物多样性补充目前的欧盟保护区网络（自然2000），同时考虑到气候驱动的地下生态区的变化（WP 4）。最后，通过第五工作方案的目标活动，我们寻求提高社会对地下生态系统的认识，并邀请利益攸关方将地下生物多样性纳入多边协定。根据欧洲S计划，我们将通过开发一个关于地下生物的集中和开放的数据库-地下生物多样性平台，使所有数据开放和可重复使用。

Subterranean ecosystems host a broad diversity of specialized and endemic organisms that account for a unique fraction of the global taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity. Furthermore, they deliver crucial nature’s contributions to people—especially the provisioning of potable water to more than half of the world’s population. Yet, these out-of-sight ecosystems are systematically overlooked in post-2020 biodiversity and climate change targets. Only 6.9% of known subterranean ecosystems overlap with the global network of protected areas, with just a few of these areas designed to account for their vertical dimension. Two main impediments are responsible for this lack of protection. First, subterranean biodiversity patterns remain largely unmapped. Second, we lack a mechanistic understanding of subterranean species' response to human-induced perturbations. The project DarCo aims to map subterranean biodiversity patterns across Europe and develop an explicit plan to incorporate subterranean ecosystems in the European Union (EU) Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. To this end, we have established a multidisciplinary team of leading scientists in subterranean biology, macroecology, and conservation science from a broad range of European countries. The project is articulated in three interconnected work packages devoted to direct research (WP2–4), plus a fourth package (WP5) aimed at maximizing the dissemination of results and engagement of stakeholders to implement practical conservation. First, by compiling existing databases and leveraging a capillary network of international collaborators, we will gather distribution data, traits, and phylogenies for all major subterranean animal groups, including crustaceans, mollusks, insects, and vertebrates (WP2). These data will serve to predict species responses to human threats using Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (WP3). Models' predictions of biodiversity change will provide the basis for a first dynamic mapping of subterranean life in Europe. By intersecting maps of diversity patterns, threats, and protected areas, we will design a plan to protect subterranean biodiversity complementing the current EU network of protected areas (Natura 2000), while taking into account climate-driven shifts in subterranean ecoregions (WP4). Finally, through target activities in WP5, we seek to raise societal awareness about subterranean ecosystems and invite stakeholders to incorporate subterranean biodiversity in multilateral agreements. In compliance with the European Plan S, we will make all data open and re-usable by the development of a centralized and open database on subterranean life—the Subterranean Biodiversity Platform.