Groundwater represent almost 22% of freshwater on Earth, which, excluding glaciers and icecaps, is one of the largest reservoir of water available for human use. It provides one third of the global freshwater supply for domestic, agricultural, and industrial purposes, and serves as the only source of freshwater for about 2.5 billion people worldwide. Groundwater is also highly diverse, being home for several rare and endemic species with particular morphologic, physiologic and metabolic adaptations, exclusively found here. Groundwater communities stands for main biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements, delivering essential ecosystem services such as the provision of clean freshwater or biodegradation of contaminants, among many others. Impacts on groundwater ecosystems may vary between climate zones, however, there are several adverse impacts affecting biodiversity and consequently the ecosystem services they provide: 1) declining groundwater levels due to overall reduced recharge along with an increasing groundwater demands, 2) extreme hydrological events, such as severe droughts followed by heavy rainfalls, 3) increase in groundwater temperature in the long term, particularly affecting shallow aquifers, and 4) deterioration of groundwater quality due to contamination from the surface.

Our current investigations are focused on:

• Integrated assessment of groundwater ecosystem services using abiotic and biotic component following the Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/EC) and Groundwater Framework Directive (GWD 2006/118/EC)
• Groundwater ecotoxicology (currently centered on endocrine disruptors such is Bisphenol A)