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Groundwater biodiversity in a chemoautotrophic cave ecosystem: how geochemistry regulates microcrustacean community structure

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Abstract

The Frasassi cave system in central Italy hosts one of the few known examples of a groundwater metazoan community that is supported by sulfur-based lithoautotrophic microbes. Despite the challenging conditions represented by high concentrations of H2S and low concentrations of O2, this cave system is home to many invertebrate species. Here, we analyzed the copepods inhabiting sulfidic lakes and non-sulfidic dripping pools in order to investigate how environmental conditions in sulfidic waters regulate the spatial distribution of the cave microcrustacean community over time. We also sampled copepod assemblages of sulfidic lakes under conditions of both high and low H2S concentration. Cluster analysis and canonical correspondence analysis separated the copepod assemblages inhabiting dripping pools from those of sulfidic lakes. H2S concentration, pH and O2 concentration were identified as the main factors regulating community structure. These results indicate that the distribution of groundwater copepods within the cave system is ecologically and spatially structured. Sulfidic lakes showed lower Simpson dominance, higher Shannon diversity and higher Pielou equitability at higher H2S concentrations. The complex community structure of the copepods of the Frasassi cave system suggests that a chemosynthetically produced food source facilitated the colonization of stygobionts in sulfidic groundwater due to their tolerance to the environmental conditions.

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Acknowledgments

The Project was partially funded by the European Community (LIFE12 BIO/IT/000231 AQUALIFE). We are indebted to Simone Cerioni of the Speleological Group of Genga, Maurizio Mainiero of the Marche Speleological Group of Ancona, Samuele Carnevali of the Gruppo Speleologico of Fabriano, and Maxwell Montanari of the OGC for technical support in the sampling campaigns. Financial support is also acknowledged for speleological equipment and laboratory materials for preliminary analyses and sample preparation provided by the Observatorio Geologico di Coldigioco (OGC). We are also grateful to the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany (Sharmishtha Dattagupta, Linn Groeneveld, Nicolas Cerveau, Mahesh Desai, Jean-François Flot, Jan Bauermeister) and the IMDEA Water Institute, Alcala de Henares, Madrid, Spain (Sanda Iepure) for providing us with chemical data. We are also grateful to two anonymous referees for their helpful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, via Vetoio, Coppito, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy

    Diana M. P. Galassi, Barbara Fiasca, Silvano Porfirio & Simone Fattorini

  2. Institute of Ecosystem Study, ISE-CNR, via Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino, 50019, Florence, Italy

    Tiziana Di Lorenzo

  3. Geological Observatory of Coldigioco, Cda. Coldigioco 4, 62021, Apiro, Italy

    Alessandro Montanari

  4. Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, CE3C – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes/Azorean Biodiversity Group and Universidade dos Açores, Angra do Heroísmo, Açores, Portugal

    Simone Fattorini

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  1. Diana M. P. Galassi
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  2. Barbara Fiasca
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  5. Silvano Porfirio
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Correspondence to Diana M. P. Galassi.

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Galassi, D.M.P., Fiasca, B., Di Lorenzo, T. et al. Groundwater biodiversity in a chemoautotrophic cave ecosystem: how geochemistry regulates microcrustacean community structure. Aquat Ecol 51, 75–90 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-016-9599-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-016-9599-7

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