Transcript High School Aquifer Presentation #6 of 9

WHAT MAKES THE EDWARDS UNIQUE?
> 1.8 million
people depend
on it for their
source of
water
Edwards Aquifer Ecosystem
Sustaining
essential
freshwater flows
to bays and
estuaries during
times of drought
Guadalupe Estuary – San Antonio Bay
The Edwards Region is home to over 50 plant and animal
species
that live nowhere else in the world.
• No other aquifer in the world has
the organism diversity that the
Edwards has.
• No other known karst system has
the range of cave adapted
insects, fish, and salamanders
found in the Edwards.
Endangered Species of the Edwards Region
On the Land
• Golden Cheeked Warbler
• Black Capped Vireo
• 9 Species of Karst Invertibrates
-found in caves
In the Springs and the Aquifer
• Texas Wild Rice
• Fountain Darter
• Comal Springs Dryopid Beetle
• San Marcos Gambusia
• Peck’s Cave Amphipod
• Comal Springs Riffle Beetle
• Texas Blind Salamander
Dependent on Edwards Spring flows
• The Whooping Crane
• shrimp, crab, and other marine life that require
a mixture of fresh and saline water in the bays and
estuaries
Edwards Aquifer Ecosystem
A Treasure at Risk
Rapid, unsustainable urbanization is pushing
aquatic species to the brink of extinction
Barton Springs salamander with gas bubble disease