Poor groundwater governance threatens ancient subterranean fishes

Rajeev Raghavan; Ralf Britz; Neelesh Dahanukar

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2021.06.007

Poor groundwater governance threatens ancient subterranean fishes

Trends Ecol Evol. 2021 Oct;36(10):875-878. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.06.007. Epub 2021 Jul 9.

Authors

Rajeev Raghavan¹, Ralf Britz², Neelesh Dahanukar³

Affiliations

¹ Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), Kochi, India; International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC)/Wetland International (WI) Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG). Electronic address: rajeev@kufos.ac.in.
² Museum of Zoology, Senckenberg Natural History Collections, Dresden, Germany; Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK.
³ Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, India; Zoo Outreach Organization (ZOO), Coimbatore, India.

PMID: 34253386
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2021.06.007

Abstract

Groundwater depletion is a significant global issue, but its impact on the often-enigmatic subterranean biodiversity and its conservation remains poorly understood. In the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot of India, poor governance of groundwater resources is threatening its evolutionarily distinct subterranean freshwater fauna, some taxa of which represent Gondwanan relics.

Keywords: aquifers; commons, India; policies; subterranean.

MeSH terms

Animals
Biodiversity*
Fishes
Groundwater*