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Is the Cantabrian region of northern Spain a biodiversity hotspot for obligate groundwater fauna? The case of oligochaetes (Annelida, Clitellata)

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Abstract

This study aimed to (i) evaluate species richness and endemicity for the stygobiont oligochaete taxa (Annelida, Clitellata) in the Cantabrian region of northern Spain; and (ii) identify the environmental factors that determine the stygobiont assemblages at the regional scale. We recorded and examined more than 7,000 specimens of groundwater oligochaetes from 58 sampling sites. Of 62 identified species, 15 were classified as stygobionts, raising the known stygobiont oligochaete richness in the Cantabrian region to 21 species. As a result, the region is the second richest area for stygobiont oligochaete fauna in Europe after Slovenia with 28 species. Stygobiont oligochaetes exhibited a high degree of endemicity: 9 stygobionts were endemic to their type localities and 8 were restricted to geographic areas of less than 240 km in length, which underlines the narrow geographic ranges for subterranean fauna. Differences among the karsts were observed but the measured environmental factors did not explain the structure of the stygobiont assemblages in the Cantabrian region. Electrical conductivity, latitude and longitude influenced stygobiont species distributions but correlation values were low. Other ecological and historical factors should be evaluated in future; in particular, marine transgressions–regressions may have played a major role as evidenced by the large number of stygobionts of marine origin (8 species) found in both coastal and inland karsts.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr. Eduardo Menéndez Casares from the University of Oviedo for helping in the field in Oviedo and for his patience to clarify to the authors the complex geology of the region; to Miguel Luis Rodriguez from IGME and Peter Smith from Matienzo Caves Group for their assessment in the selection and finding of sampling sites in Llanes and Matienzo, respectively; and to Gotzon Aranzabal from ADES, Francisco Martinez and Aitor Galarza for helping in the field. The manuscript was improved by comments of two anonymous reviewers and Diego Fontaneto. The first author had a PhD grant from the University of The Basque Country UPV/EHU (Euskerazko tesia egiteko ikerketa pertsonala prestatzeko laguntzen deialdia 2007–2011) and has currently a PostDoc position financed by the Basque Government (Programa Posdoctoral de perfeccionamiento de doctores). The study received financial support from Cátedra UNESCO (2005–2006), the Natural Park of Gorbeia (2008), the Basque Government (Department of Environment and Regional Planning of the Basque Country, 2007) and the Research-Groups project IT405-10 (Basque Government, 2010–2012).

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  1. Station d’Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis, USR 2936, 09200, Moulis, France

    Ainara Achurra

  2. Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, Box 644, 48080, Bilbao, Spain

    Ainara Achurra & Pilar Rodriguez

  3. Canada Creek, NS, Canada

    Trefor B. Reynoldson

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  1. Ainara Achurra
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Achurra, A., Rodriguez, P. & Reynoldson, T.B. Is the Cantabrian region of northern Spain a biodiversity hotspot for obligate groundwater fauna? The case of oligochaetes (Annelida, Clitellata). Hydrobiologia 745, 151–166 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-014-2101-4

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