Towards an integrated understanding of how micro scale processes shape groundwater ecosystem functions.
Micro scale processes are expected to have a fundamental role in shaping groundwater ecosystems and yet they remain poorly understood and under-researched. In part, this is due to the fact that sampling is rarely carried out at the scale at which microorganisms, and their grazers and predators, function and thus we lack essential information. While set within a larger scale framework in terms of geochemical features, supply with energy and nutrients, and exchange intensity and dynamics, the micro scale adds variability, by providing heterogeneous zones at the micro scale which enable a wider range of redox reactions. Here we outline how understanding micro scale processes better may lead to improved appreciation of the range of ecosystems functions taking place at all scales. Such processes are relied upon in bioremediation and we demonstrate that ecosystem modelling as well as engineering measures have to take into account, and use, understanding at the micro scale. We discuss the importance of integrating faunal processes and computational appraisals in research, in order to continue to secure sustainable water resources from groundwater.
Centre for Systems Biology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. Electronic address: Schmidt-S@uni-landau.de.
Susanne I
SI
Schmidt
Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre, UNSW Australia, 110 King Street, Manly Vale 2093, Australia; Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
Mark O
MO
Cuthbert
Center of Applied Geoscience, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
Marc
M
Schwientek
D017753:Ecosystem; D060587:Groundwater; D014871:Water Microbiology; D062066:Water Resources
Fauna; Groundwater ecology; Micro scale environment heterogeneity; Spatial scale; Temporal scale; Unconsolidated sediment