SUNY ESF Leads Groundbreaking Research in Groundwater¡¯s Role in Ecosystem Sustainability
Until now, groundwater – a critical water resource around the globe, especially in dry regions – has been largely unstudied in its importance and role in sustaining ecosystems. A new groundbreaking research effort led by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in partnership with University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), Cardiff University, and Desert Research Institute (DRI) examines the relationship between groundwater and ecosystems across California. Their innovative findings are featured in Nature Water.
Led by Dr. Melissa Rohde, who completed the study as part of her doctoral research in Dr. John Stella¡¯s Riparian Echohydrology Lab at ESF, the team used satellite imagery and groundwater monitoring data to identify thresholds of groundwater depth and seasonal change that can support sensitive ecosystems throughout California under the state¡¯s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act framework.
¡°A vast majority of our planet¡¯s freshwater is groundwater, but we don¡¯t acknowledge or manage it sustainably, resulting in serious consequences for humans and natural ecosystems,¡± said Dr. Rohde, now Principal at Rohde Environmental Consulting, LLC. ¡°Groundwater is critical for many ecosystems, but their water requirements are rarely accounted for by water agencies and conservationists. To reconcile that, our study provides a simple and practical approach to detect ecological thresholds and targets that can be used by practitioners to allocate and manage water resources.¡±
Utilizing 38 years of Landsat satellite images (1985-2022) and statewide groundwater well data, the study examined impacts on key plant communities. A major challenge was to develop standardized metrics that can be applied across diverse ecosystems with site-specific water conditions. The team applied a common data transformation method in a new way to identify thresholds of vegetation greenness and groundwater depth over time that can determine groundwater needs for ecosystems, helping to inform decisions about water use and planning.
¡°Groundwater-dependent ecosystems such as wetlands, floodplains, and riparian zones have a very outsized importance on biodiversity. Upwards of 80 to 90 percent of species in a general region may be dependent on these ecosystems in some form or another,¡± said Dr. Stella, study co-author and Vice President for Research at ESF. ¡°We applied a simple statistical approach to very large data sets to identify warning signs and conservation targets for a great diversity of ecosystem types.¡±
The vast geographic scope and long timeline covered by the study, allowed the team to evaluate how large-scale systems respond to major climate shocks such as the historical California drought that occurred from 2012—2016, as well as where individual groundwater-dependent ecosystems can serve as resilient drought refugia.