This research will test the idea that a distinctive fauna of ancient, endemic, specialized invertebrates lives in the groundwaters of unglaciated Mesozoic terrain in eastern North America. The existence of such a fauna is to be expected based on the distribution of the faunas of caves and surface waters in eastern North America. This idea will be tested by analyzing the invertebrate communities of shallow groundwater (the hyporheic zone) at 15-20 sites between the Canadian border and the Gulf of Mexico. The results of this research will help to answer questions about several important topics, including: (i) the zoogeography and evolution of the groundwater fauna; (ii) the ecological structure and function of groundwater communities of different evolutionary ages; (iii) interactions between epigean generalists and hypogean specialists in groundwater communities; (iv) predicting the response of groundwater communities to global climate change; (v) predicting the response of groundwater communities to catastrophic disturbance; and (vi) elucidating the evolutionary and physiological ecology of groundwater invertebrates. The project will contribute to the basic ecology of groundwater communities, an area of major interest among ecologists, and will add to the knowledge base useful for applied science.
