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DarCo

The vertical dimension of conservation:

A cost-effective plan to incorporate subterranean ecosystems in post-2020 biodiversity and climate change agendas

Project duration: 2023–2026

Total Budget: 1.652.031€

Biodiversa+ 2021–2022 joint call

“Supporting the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems”

Context

Subterranean ecosystems (such as caves, groundwaters, and fractured rocks) host a broad diversity of specialized and endemic organisms that account for a unique fraction of the global taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity. Furthermore, they deliver crucial ecosystem services, especially the provisioning of potable water to more than half of the world’s population. Yet, these out-of-sight ecosystems are systematically overlooked in post-2020 biodiversity and climate change targets. Only 6.9% of known subterranean ecosystems overlap with the global network of protected areas, with just a few of these areas designed to account for their vertical dimension.

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Main Objectives

DarCo aims to advance knowledge about subterranean biodiversity in Europe and inform its management. The overarching goal is to develop a concrete plan to incorporate subterranean ecosystems in the European Union (EU) Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.

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​Partners

  • Water Research Institute, National Research Council, Verbania Pallanza, Italy

  • Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology. University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

  • Department Biology of Organisms, Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium

  • French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), UMR CNRS 5023 LEHNA, University of Claude Bernard Lyon 1, French National Centre for Scientific Research, Villeurbanne, France

  • Zoology Unit, Finnish Museum of Natural History – University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

  • Department of Entomology, State Museum of Natural History, Stuttgart, Germany

  • Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences – laboratory of Stygobiology, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

  • Azorean Biodiversity Group , University of Azores, Angra Do Heroísmo, Portugal

  • Emil Racovita Institute of Speleology, Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

  • Department of Organisms and Ecosystem Research, National Institute of Biology, Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • Biotechnical Faculty – Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

  • Department of Ecology and Hydrology, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain

  • Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

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The Romanian Team

TRAIAN BRAD - PI

RALUCA IOANA BĂNCILĂ

MARIUS IOSIF KENESZ

ION ȘERBAN MIRCEA SÂRBU

ANDREI ȘTEFAN

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Sigla ARFCN 2023 text vectorial 02.png

Summary

The project is articulated in three interconnected work packages devoted to direct research (WP2–4), plus a fourth package (WP5) aimed at maximizing the dissemination of results and engagement of stakeholders to implement practical conservation. First, by compiling existing databases and leveraging a capillary network of international collaborators, we will gather distribution data, traits, and phylogenies for all major subterranean animal groups, including crustaceans, mollusks, insects, and vertebrates (WP2). These data will serve to predict species responses to human threats using Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (WP3). Models' predictions of biodiversity change will provide the basis for a dynamic mapping of European subterranean life. By intersecting maps of diversity patterns, threats, and protected areas, we will design a plan to protect subterranean biodiversity complementing the current EU network of protected areas (Natura 2000), while taking into account climate-driven shifts in subterranean ecoregions (WP4). Finally, through target activities in WP5, we seek to raise societal awareness about subterranean ecosystems and invite stakeholders to incorporate subterranean biodiversity in multilateral agreements.

Publications &
Conferences

  1. Sarbu SM, Brad T, Băncilă RI, Ştefan A. Exploring biodiversity and food webs in Sulfur Cave in the Vromoner Canyon on the Greek–Albanian border. Diversity. 2024; 16(8):477.

  2. Mammola, S., Aanei, C., Altermatt, F., Alther, R., Amorim, I. R., Băncilă, R. I., Bellvert, A., Blomberg, A., Borges, P. A. V., Brad, T., ..., Kenesz K., ..., Sarbu S. M., Ștefan A., ... 2024, The DarCo project: A cost-effective plan to incorporate subterranean ecosystems in post-2020 biodiversity and climate change agendas. Retrieved from University of Teramo Research Repository: https://hdl.handle.net/11575/153600

  3. Baba, Ş. C., Giurginca, A., Popovici, G., Sarbu, S. M., & Popa, O. P. (2024). A new cave-dwelling species of the genus Geophilus Leach, 1814 (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha) from the chemoautotrophic-based Movile Cave (Southern Dobrogea, Romania). The European Zoological Journal, 91(2), 855–868. 

  4. Kovařík, F., Audy, M., Sarbu, S. M., & Fet, V. (2023). Euscorpius sulfur sp. n. (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae), a new cave scorpion from Albania and northwestern Greece. Euscorpius, No. 376, 1–14.

  5. Ştefan, A.; Brad, T.; Băncilă, R.I.; Nițescu, R.; Dainelli, L.; Sarbu, S. Sulfidic caves in South-East Albania—a new hotspot of subterranean biodiversity, 2024, in Proceedings of the 3rd International Electronic Conference on Diversity, 15–17 October 2024, MDPI: Basel, Switzerland

  6. Bertrand, M., Manu, M., Sarbu, S. M., & Stefan, A. (2024). Labidostomma motasi rediscovered: a witness of the Messinian crisis? (Acari: Labidostommatidae). Annales de La Société Entomologique de France (N.S.), 1–13. 

  7. Mammola S., Altermatt F., Alther R., Amorim I.R., Băncilă R.I., Borges P.A.V., Brad T., ..., 2024, Perspectives and pitfalls in preserving subterranean biodiversity through protected areas. NPJ Biodiversity 3, 2. 

  8. Saccò M., ..., Brad T., ..., 2023, Groundwater is a hidden global keystone ecosystem. Global Change Biology, 30, e17066. 

  9. Malek-Hosseini MJ, Brad T, Fatemi Y, Kuntner M, Fišer C (2023). A new cave-dwelling hadzioid amphipod (Senticaudata, Hadzioidea, Melitidae) from sulfidic groundwaters in Iran. Contributions to Zoology, 1–20. 

  10. Weber D, Brad T (2023). Niphargus carolinensis sp. nov. (Amphipoda: Niphargidae), an Endemic Species in the Northern Distribution Area of the Genus. Hydrobiology 2: 554–574. 

Brad T., Stefan A., Kenesz M., Bancila R., Aanei C., Sarbu S.M. and Stoch F., 2024, Amfipodele subterane din România. Diversitate și neajunsuri, Conference - Multidisciplinaritate în cercetarea peșterilor, Zilele Academice Clujene, November 19, 2024, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Salussolia A., Brad T., Flot J.-F. and Stoch F., 2024, From darkness to light: molecular phylogenetic analysis of the amphipod Niphargus elegans reveals repeated colonization of epigean environments from groundwaters, 4th Central European Symposium for Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Research (CESAMIR 2024), July 7–12 2024, Stará Lesná, Slovakia

Mori N, Brad T, Englisch C, Fišer C, Gaviria S, Griebler C, Kenesz M, Knight L. R.F.D, Meierhofer M, Malard F, Mammola S, Marmonier P, Martínez A, Zagmajster Z (2024) The linkages between functional traits of Ostracoda (Crustacea) and their habitats in groundwaters and groundwater dependent ecosystems. 26th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, Cagliari, Italy, 09–14 September 2024. 

Brad T, Stefan A, Kenesz M, Bancia RI, Aanei C, Sarbu SM, Stoch F (2024) Niphargus (Amphipoda, Niphargidae) research in Romania. Diversity, pitfalls and shortcomings. 26th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, Cagliari, Italy, 09–14 September 2024. 

Bancila RI, Giurginca A, Nae I, Nitzu E, Popa I, Baba SC, Nae A, Sarbu MS, Brad T, Plaiasu R (2024) Investigating the effect of microclimate variability and habitat heterogeneity on functional diversity of  cave-dwelling arthropod communities. 26th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, Cagliari, Italy, 09–14 September 2024.

Sarbu SM, Brad T, Bancila RI, Stefan A, Chauveau C, Flot SL, Nitescu R, Kenesz M, Urak I, Flot J-F (2024) Subterranean sulfidic biodiversity in the Sarandaporo canyon (Albania-Greece). 26th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, Cagliari, Italy, 09–14 September 2024. [Oral presentation]

Ștefan A, Tawfeeq MM, Popa OP, Popa LO, Stoch F, Keffer SL, Sarbu SM, Flot J-F (2024) Phylogeography and genetic diversity of water scorpions (Nepa spp., Insecta: Hemiptera). 26th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, Cagliari, Italy, 09–14 September 2024.

Mammola S, et al. [all consortium members] (2024) Safeguarding the future of subterranean biodiversity in Europe. 7th European Congress of Conservation Biology “Biodiversity positive by 2030” (ECCB 2024), 17–21 June 2024, Bologna, Italy

Mammola S, et al. [all consortium members] (2024) The DarCo project: A cost-effective plan to incorporate subterranean ecosystems in post-2020 biodiversity and climate change agendas. 26th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, Cagliari, Italy, 09–14 September 2024. [Poster presentation]

Brad T. and Sarbu SM, 2024, Movile Cave – The cave that time forgot. University of Vienna, invited lecturer, March 4, 2024

Mammola S, Altermatt F, Alther R, Amorim IR, Bancila RI, ... Brad T, B..., Sarbu SM, Sánchez-Fernández D, Saccò M, Ștefan A, ... (2024) Safeguarding the future of subterranean biodiversity in Europe. 7th European Congress of Conservation Biology “Biodiversity positive by 2030” (ECCB 2024), 17–21 June 2024, Bologna, Italy 

Sarbu SM., 2024, Life without Light: the fascinating biology of stinky caves, Faculty of Biology, University of Innsbruck, invited lecturer, November 11, 2024.

Contact

I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.

info@mysite.com

123-456-7890 

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