Fellowship of the Spring: An initiative to document and protect the world's oases

Roderick J Fensham; Rouhollah Adinehvand; Sally Babidge; Marco Cantonati; Matthew Currell; Linda Daniele; Alper Elci; Diana M P Galassi; África de la Hera Portillo; Salah Hamad; Dongmei Han; Hussain Ali Jawadi; Jaafar Jotheri; Boris Laffineur; Alsharifa Hind Mohammad; Alireza Naqinezhad; Amin Navidtalab; Kathleen Nicoll; Taleb Odeh; Viviana Re; Bernard Sanjuan; Valeria Souza; Lawrence E Stevens; Memory Tekere; Ernest Tshibalo; Jennifer Silcock; John Webb; Braam van Wyk; Mehrdad Zamanpoore; Karen G Villholth

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163936

Fellowship of the Spring: An initiative to document and protect the world's oases

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Aug 20:887:163936. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163936. Epub 2023 May 5.

Authors

Roderick J Fensham¹, Rouhollah Adinehvand², Sally Babidge³, Marco Cantonati⁴, Matthew Currell⁵, Linda Daniele⁶, Alper Elci⁷, Diana M P Galassi⁸, África de la Hera Portillo⁹, Salah Hamad¹⁰, Dongmei Han¹¹, Hussain Ali Jawadi¹², Jaafar Jotheri¹³, Boris Laffineur¹⁴, Alsharifa Hind Mohammad¹⁵, Alireza Naqinezhad¹⁶, Amin Navidtalab¹⁷, Kathleen Nicoll¹⁸, Taleb Odeh¹⁹, Viviana Re²⁰, Bernard Sanjuan²¹, Valeria Souza²², Lawrence E Stevens²³, Memory Tekere²⁴, Ernest Tshibalo²⁴, Jennifer Silcock¹⁴, John Webb²⁵, Braam van Wyk²⁶, Mehrdad Zamanpoore²⁷, Karen G Villholth²⁸

Affiliations

¹ The University of Queensland, School of Biological Sciences, St Lucia 4072, Australia; Queensland Herbarium, Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong 4066, Australia. Electronic address: rod.fensham@qld.gov.au.
² IWRM - Iran Water Resources Management, 517 Tehran, Iran.
³ The University of Queensland, School of Social Science, St Lucia 4072, Australia.
⁴ BIOME Lab, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences-BiGeA, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Via Selmi 3, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
⁵ School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁶ Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
⁷ Department of Environmental Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, 35390 Izmir, Turkiye.
⁸ Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, Via Vetoio, Coppito, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.
⁹ Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, CSIC-IGME, Ríos Rosas 23, 28003 Madrid, Spain.
¹⁰ Faculty of Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences, University of Omar Al-Mukhtar, Al Baydah, Libya.
¹¹ Key Laboratory of Water Cycle & Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
¹² Department of Geology, Faculty of Geosciences, Bamyan University, Bamyan 1601, Afghanistan.
¹³ Faculty of Archaeology, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Diwaniyah 1811, Iraq.
¹⁴ The University of Queensland, School of Biological Sciences, St Lucia 4072, Australia; Queensland Herbarium, Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong 4066, Australia.
¹⁵ Water, Energy, and Environment Center, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan.
¹⁶ Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, P.O. Box: 47416-95447, Mazandaran, Iran.
¹⁷ School of Earth Sciences, Damghan University, 36716-45667 Damghan, Iran.
¹⁸ University of Utah, Department of Geography, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
¹⁹ The Hashemite University, Prince Al Hassan bin Talal College for Natural Resources and Environment, Dept. of Water Management and Environment, Zarqa, Jordan.
²⁰ Department of Earth Science, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
²¹ BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières, 45060 Orléans, France.
²² Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70-275 Coyoacán, Mexico.
²³ Springs Stewardship Institute, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA. Electronic address: https://www.SpringStewardshipInstitute.org.
²⁴ Department of Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, South Africa.
²⁵ Environmental Geoscience, Discipline of Ecology and Environment, La Trobe University, Victoria 3086, Australia.
²⁶ BVW Groundwater Consulting Services, 4 Karimona Str, Swakopmund, Namibia.
²⁷ Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organisation, Fars, Iran.
²⁸ Water Cycle Innovation, Bela-Bela 0480, Pretoria 0127, South Africa.

PMID: 37149179
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163936

Abstract

An 'oasis' signifies a refugium of safety, recovery, relaxation, fertility, and productivity in an inhospitable desert, a sweet spot in a barren landscape where life-giving water spills forth from the Earth. Remarkable mythological congruencies exist across dryland cultures worldwide where oases or 'arid-land springs' occur. In many places they also provide specialised habitats for an extraordinary array of endemic organisms. To inform their management, and maintain their integrity, it is essential to understand the hydrogeology of aquifers and springs. Gravity-fed vs artesian aquifers; actively recharged vs fossil aquifers, and sources of geothermal activity are important concepts presented here. There consequences for oases of sustainable and unsustainable groundwater extraction, and other examples of effective conservation management. Oases are archetypes for human consciousness, habitats that deserve protection and conservation, and a lingua franca for multicultural values and scientific exchange. We represent an international Fellowship of the Spring seeking to encompass and facilitate the stewardship of oases and aquifers through improved knowledge, outreach, and governance.

Keywords: Aquifers; Arid-lands; Drylands; Endemism; Groundwater management; Oases.

MeSH terms

Ecosystem
Fellowships and Scholarships
Fresh Water
Groundwater*
Humans
Natural Springs*