Twenty-Six New Dytiscidae (Coleoptera) of the Genera <i>Limbodessus</i> Guignot and <i>Nirripirti</i> Watts &amp; Humphreys, from Underground Waters in Australia.

Watts, Chris; Humphreys, William F.

doi:10.1080/3721426.2006.10887055

Cited by 71 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…This functional approach to the provision of groundwater ecosystem services complements current studies of stygofaunal systematics and phylogenetics (e.g. Cooper et al 2002Cooper et al , 2007Watts and Humphreys 2006), revealing how groundwater ecosystem services may vary with changes in assemblage composition over time, the likely effects of species loss or invasion, and potential influences of aquifer habitat fragmentation. Such insights can guide protection and restoration of aquifers and their ecosystem services as well as contributing to one of the most exciting fundamental ecological questions of our time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Biodiversity, functional roles and ecosystem services of groundwater invertebrates

Boulton

Fenwick

Hancock

et al. 2008

Invert. Systematics

191

135

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Abstract. Recent surveys of groundwater invertebrates (stygofauna) worldwide are yielding rich troves of biodiversity, with significant implications for invertebrate systematists and phylogeneticists as well as ecologists and groundwater managers. What is the ecological significance of this high biodiversity of invertebrates in some aquifers? How might it influence groundwater ecosystem services such as water purification or bioremediation? In terrestrial ecosystems, biodiversity is typically positively correlated with rates of ecosystem functions beneficial to humans (e.g. crop pollination). However, the links between biodiversity, ecosystem function, and ecosystem services in groundwater are unknown. In some aquifers, feeding, movement and excretion by diverse assemblages of stygofauna potentially enhance groundwater ecosystem services such as water purification, bioremediation and water infiltration. Further, as specific taxa apparently play 'keystone' roles in facilitating ecosystem services, declines in abundance or even their extinction have serious repercussions. One way to assess the functional significance of biodiversity is to identify 'ecosystem service providers', characterise their functional relationships, determine how service provision is affected by community structure and environmental variables, and measure the spatio-temporal scales over which these operate. Examples from Australian and New Zealand alluvial aquifers reveal knowledge gaps in understanding the functional importance of most stygofauna, hampering effective protection of currently undervalued groundwater ecosystem services.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Biodiversity, functional roles and ecosystem services of groundwater invertebrates

Boulton

Fenwick

Hancock

et al. 2008

Invert. Systematics

191

135

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“…A repeated pattern of two to three species of stygobiontic diving beetles is consistently observed within isolated aquifers, some of which are clear sympatric sister species (Leys et al, 2003;Watts and Humphreys, 2006;Guzik et al, 2009). To date, this pattern has been observed in 29 calcretes in which each species occupies non-overlapping size classes, ranging from large (B5 mm) to very small (B1 mm) beetles (Watts and Humphreys, 1999, 2003, 2006.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Each aquifer comprises similar stygobiontic organisms: crustaceans (for example, amphipods, copepods, isopods, bathynellids), oligochaetes (segmented worms) and water beetles (Dytiscidae; Humphreys, 2000), but each maintains a distinct set of species. The subterranean Dytiscidae (Watts and Humphreys, 2006) exemplify this diversity and are thought to represent the world's largest groundwater beetle fauna by a factor of 10 (Humphreys, 2006). The origin of this fauna is thought to lie in the mid-late Miocene when Central and Western Australia was a stable mesic habitat (Leys et al, 2003;Byrne et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present study, we gained access to a substantially larger sampling region (up to 15 km between samples compared with B3.5 km) in a calcrete aquifer that lies B135 km northeast of SMC and on a different palaeodrainage channel, Carey drainage (east), known as the Laverton Downs Calcrete (LDC). As in the previous study, we used a comparative phylogeographic approach using three dytiscid beetle species, Limbodessus lapostae Watts and Humphreys (1999), L. windarraensis Watts and Humphreys (1999) and L. palmulaoides Watts and Humphreys (2006), which vary in size from the smallest to the largest (1.3, 2.2 and 4.2 mm, respectively). The three species are congeneric and sympatric but are not sister species (Leys et al, 2003;Leys, unpublished).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for population fragmentation within a subterranean aquatic habitat in the Western Australian desert

et al. 2011

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The evolution of subterranean animals following multiple colonisation events from the surface has been well documented, but few studies have investigated the potential for species diversification within cavernicolous habitats. Isolated calcrete (carbonate) aquifers in central Western Australia have been shown to contain diverse assemblages of aquatic subterranean invertebrate species (stygofauna) and to offer a unique model system for exploring the mechanisms of speciation in subterranean ecosystems. In this paper, we investigated the hypothesis that microallopatric speciation processes (fragmentation and isolation by distance (IBD)) occur within calcretes using a comparative phylogeographic study of three stygobiontic diving beetle species, one amphipod species and a lineage of isopods. Specimens were sequenced for the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene from three main sites: Quandong Well, Shady Well (SW) and Mt. Windarra (MW), spanning a 15 km region of the Laverton Downs Calcrete. Phylogenetic and haplotype network analyses revealed that each species possessed a single divergent clade of haplotypes that were present only at the southern MW site, despite the existence of other haplotypes at MW that were shared with SW. IBD between MW and SW was evident, but the common phylogeographic pattern most likely resulted from fragmentation, possibly by a salt lake adjacent to MW. These findings suggest that microallopatric speciation within calcretes may be a significant diversifying force, although the proportion of stygofauna species that may have resulted from in situ speciation in this system remains to be determined.

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“…The richness of the Yilgarn, to the south of the Pilbara, has been documented principally at the site level or in taxonomic studies (e.g. Watts and Humphreys 2006;Karanovic, T. and Cooper 2012). Early sampling showed that the Yilgarn supports at least 210 species (Humphreys 2008) and subsequent taxonomic work has shown that substantially more species are present (e.g.…”

Section: Global Signifi Cance Of Pilbara Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%

Pilbara stygofauna: deep groundwater of an arid landscape contains globally significant radiation of biodiversity

Halse¹,

Scanlon²,

Cocking³

et al. 2014

Rec West Aust Mus Sup

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-The Pilbara region was surveyed for stygofauna between 2002 and 2005 with the aims of setting nature conservation priorities in relation to stygofauna, improving the understanding of factors affecting invertebrate stygofauna distribution and sampling yields, and providing a framework for assessing stygofauna species and community signifi cance in the environmental impact assessment process.Approximately 350 species of stygofauna were collected during the survey and extrapolation suggests that 500-550 actually occur in the Pilbara, although taxonomic resolution among some groups of stygofauna is poor and species richness is likely to have been substantially underestimated. More than 50 species were found in a single bore. Even though species richness was underestimated, it is clear that the Pilbara is a globally important region for stygofauna, supporting species densities greater than anywhere other than the Dinaric karst of Europe. This is in part because of a remarkable radiation of candonid ostracods in the Pilbara. Ostracods are the dominant stygofaunal group in terms of both species richness and animal abundance. Together, ostracods, copepods, amphipods and oligochates comprised 77% of species and 96% of animals collected.Stygofauna were found in 72% of samples collected and 81% of wells sampled. The average sample (including those without stygofauna) contained 3.2 ± 0.1 species. A feature of the Pilbara is that stygofauna occur across most of the landscape, often where the depth to groundwater is considerable, although yields were low where depth to groundwater was >30 m. Another feature is high endemicity: on the basis of current taxonomy 98% of the stygobites and 83% of the other groundwater species occur only within the region. Few factors affecting stygofauna occurrence could be identifi ed, however. Numbers of specimens and species collected were positively related to well diameter and negatively related to depth to groundwater. Numbers of species declined in inland sub-regions, although variability within sub-regions was high.While a range of freshwater chemistries occurred, 79% of water samples were weakly saline and NaCl dominated. Profi ling and purging of wells suggested that water quality measurements refl ected aquifer conditions in most situations. Water chemistry appeared to have limited infl uence on stygofauna occurrence in the Pilbara. Geology also appeared to have little effect on stygofauna occurrence but this may have been the result of non-random siting of wells; there was a bias towards wells being in transmissive locations that were not necessarily typical of the geology in which each well occurred.No potential reserves for stygofauna are recommended in this paper but nine areas of high stygofauna richness were identifi ed, including the listed Ethel Gorge stygofauna community. Theoretical analysis of species ranges suggested that half of the species found only in the vicinity of development projects will have ranges less than 680 km 2 . Consequently, projects involving ext...

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Twenty-Six New Dytiscidae (Coleoptera) of the Genera Limbodessus Guignot and Nirripirti Watts & Humphreys, from Underground Waters in Australia.

Cited by 71 publications

References 6 publications

Biodiversity, functional roles and ecosystem services of groundwater invertebrates

Biodiversity, functional roles and ecosystem services of groundwater invertebrates

Evidence for population fragmentation within a subterranean aquatic habitat in the Western Australian desert

Pilbara stygofauna: deep groundwater of an arid landscape contains globally significant radiation of biodiversity

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