20.500.12556/DiRROS-20184 Groundwater is a hidden global keystone ecosystem Groundwater is a vital ecosystem of the global water cycle, hosting unique biodiversity and providing essential services to societies. Despite being the largest unfrozen freshwater resource, in a period of depletion by extraction and pollution, groundwater environments have been repeatedly overlooked in global biodiversity conservation agendas. Disregarding the importance of groundwater as an ecosystem ignores its critical role in preserving surface biomes. To foster timely global conservation of groundwater, we propose elevating the concept of keystone species into the realm of ecosystems, claiming groundwater as a keystone ecosystem that influences the integrity of many dependent ecosystems. Our global analysis shows that over half of land surface areas (52.6%) has a medium-to-high interaction with groundwater, reaching up to 74.9% when deserts and high mountains are excluded. We postulate that the intrinsic transboundary features of groundwater are critical for shifting perspectives towards more holistic approaches in aquatic ecology and beyond. Furthermore, we propose eight key themes to develop a science-policy integrated groundwater conservation agenda. Given ecosystems above and below the ground intersect at many levels, considering groundwater as an essential component of planetary health is pivotal to reduce biodiversity loss and buffer against climate change. groundwater keystone ecosystem surface-subterranean connectivity podzemne vode ključni ekosistem površinsko-podzemne povezave true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Neznano 2024-08-07 14:03:25 2024-08-07 14:03:25 2024-08-08 04:07:55 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2024 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 14. 12. 2023; Št. članka: 17066; str. 1-20 iss. 1 Vol. 30 2024 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2024-01-01 574 1365-2486 10.1111/gcb.17066 177394947 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.17066 1 4d3d1ad0-54a4-11ef-b487-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=28234 RAZ_Sacco_Mattia_2024.pdf RAZ_Sacco_Mattia_2024.pdf 1 989B16902D79739E7970BD51212C08B9 2e22c4c70aa0a055cb700879adf93c59272a028c366cdc1f010dc7820ee755fd 0826de17-54a6-11ef-b487-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=28235 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17066 0 118370f6-54a6-11ef-b487-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=28236 Nacionalni inštitut za biologijo 0 0 0