SF2.1 Water pipes and subterranean canals

SF2. Anthropogenic subterranean freshwaters biome

SF2

Profile summary

Full profile at https://global-ecosystems.org/explore/groups/SF2.1

Brief description

Waters flowing rapidly through artificial conduits are typically bereft of their own primary producers in the absence of light and rely on imported algae and detritus as sources of energy. These support simple bacterial and fungal communities in biofilms and largely itinerant invertebrates. Diversity, abundance and productivity are low, but filter feeders may colonise and productivity may be higher if source waters supply nutrients and organic carbon.

Key features

Artificial flowing waterbodies that carry water with variable flow regime, limited light, sometimes with high carbon and nutrients supporting opportunities aquatic detritivores and predators.

Overview of distribution

Ubiquitous in developed regions of the world, most commonly in urban landscapes and irrigation areas.

Map description

Freshwater ecoregions (Abell et al. 2008) containing urban and industrialised areas with water transfer infrastructure were identified by consulting available ecoregion descriptions (http://www.feow.org/), maps of irrigation and other water infrastructure, and expertise of authors. Due to uncertainty and limited verification and likely limited spatial extent within mapped areas, all inferred occurrences were shown as minor at 30 arc seconds spatial resolution..

Map code and version: SF2.1.web.orig v1.0. DOI

Version history

Profile versions

  • v2.1 (2022-04-06): DA Keith; TM Iliffe; V Gerovasileiou; B Gonzalez; D Brankovits; A Martínez García.1
  • v2.01 (NA): NA.
  • v2.0 (2020-06-17): DA Keith; TM Iliffe; V Gerovasileiou; B Gonzalez; D Brankovits; A Martínez García.
  • v1.0 (2020-01-20): DA Keith.

Available maps

Read more details about the current map versions here.

  • Web navigation (code: SF2.1.web.orig, version v1.0)
  • Indicative Map (code: SF2.1.IM.orig, version v1.0)

Read more details about older or alternative versions of maps for this functional group.

References

Main references

References used in the different versions of the profiles.

  • Douterelo I, Sharpe RL, Boxall JB (2013) Influence of hydraulic regimes on bacterial community structure and composition in an experimental drinking water distribution system Water Research 47, 503-516 DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2012.09.053

Map references

References used in the different versions of the maps (current and discarded).

  • Abell R, Thieme ML, Revenga C, Bryer M, Kottelat M, Bogutskaya N, Coad B, Mandrak N, Contreras Balderas S, Bussing W, Stiassny MLJ, Skelton P, Allen GR, Unmack P, Naseka A, Ng R, Sindorf N, Robertson J, Armijo E, Higgins JV, Heibel TJ, Wikramanayake E, Olson D, López HL, Reis RE, Lundberg JG, Sabaj Pérez MH, Petry P (2008) Freshwater ecoregions of the world: A new map of biogeographic units for freshwater biodiversity conservation, BioScience 58: 403–414. DOI:10.1641/B580507

Footnotes

  1. This is the current version available at official site.↩︎