Groundwater dependent ecosystems and man : conflicting groundwater uses

Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDE) are important elements of biodiversity and providers of valuable goods and services to society. Preservation of their environmental functions in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures on groundwater resources and progressive climate change depends on appropriate environmental policies and water resources management. A brief overview of current knowledge of the functioning of GDE and their relations with groundwater is given in the first part of the article. Effective incorporation of GDE into the policy and practice of water resources management depends on thorough understanding of how hydrogeological processes and human impacts influence the quantity and quality of groundwater available to ecosystems. Major scientific challenges in this regard are related to adequate representation of GDE in the conceptual and re lated numeri cal models of groundwater systems. An example of a GDE (Wielkie Błoto fen in southern Poland) is discussed in some detail in the second part of the article. It illustrates some of the pressures and threats which GDE located in densely populated regions of the European continent are experiencing nowadays. Selected research tools used to quantify those pressures and threats are described and discussed.