Groundwater resources and ecosystems relying on groundwater are facing increasing quantitative pressure from land-use and consumption pressures. Additional threats to groundwater dependent ecosystems from climate change are unknown, highly interwoven and complex. In some areas, groundwater quantity and quality have been already reduced, resulting in negative impacts on important ecosystems relying on groundwater (e.g. change in vegetation patterns as well as biodiversity and decrease of drinking water resources). Multidisciplinary research is required for a sustainable management practice and processes understanding of groundwater dependent ecosystems.

Therefore, we welcome contributions improving our understanding on

(i) how ecosystems depend on groundwater presenting new conceptual models for system understanding,

(ii) how changes in groundwater flow and water quality influence ecosystems directly and indirectly,

(iii) how changes in land-use and climate affect the groundwater and dependent ecosystems,

(iv) how new methods and indicators assess the dependency of ecosystem on groundwater, and

(v) how the research results are transferred to stakeholders and end-users for better management and monitoring strategies.