River aufeis (ow′ fīse) are widespread features of the arctic cryosphere. They form when river channels become locally restricted by ice, resulting in cycles of water overflow and freezing and the accumulation of ice, with some aufeis attaining areas of ~ 25 + km² and thicknesses of 6+ m. During winter, unfrozen sediments beneath the insulating ice layer provide perennial groundwater‐habitat that is otherwise restricted in regions of continuous permafrost. Our goal was to assess whether aufeis facilitate the occurrence of groundwater invertebrate communities in the Arctic. We focused on a single aufeis ecosystem (~ 5 km² by late winter) along the Kuparuk River in arctic Alaska. Subsurface invertebrates were sampled during June and August 2017 from 50 3.5‐cm diameter PVC wells arranged in a 5 × 10 array covering ~ 40 ha. Surface invertebrates were sampled using a quadrat approach. We documented a rich assemblage of groundwater invertebrates (49 [43–54] taxa, [95% confidence limits]) that was distributed below the sediment surface to a mean depth of ~ 69 ± 2 cm (± 1 SE) throughout the entire well array. Although community structure differed significantly between groundwater and surface habitats, the taxa richness from wells and surface sediments (43 [35–48] taxa) did not differ significantly, which was surprising given lower richness in subsurface habitats of large, riverine gravel‐aquifer systems shown elsewhere. This is the first demonstration of a rich and spatially extensive groundwater fauna in a region of continuous permafrost. Given the geographic extent of aufeis fields, localized groundwater‐dependent ecosystems may be widespread in the Arctic.

中文翻译：

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作为北极冰冻圈中依赖地下水的新型生态系统的奥菲斯油田

奥菲斯河（ow'fīse）是北极冰冻圈的普遍特征。它们在河道受冰局部限制时形成，从而导致水的溢出，冻结和冰积聚的循环，其中一些丘比特到达的面积约为25 + km ²，厚度为6+ m。在冬季，隔热冰层下方的未冻结沉积物提供了多年生地下水栖息地，否则将限制在连续多年冻土地区。我们的目标是评估植物学是否能促进北极地下水无脊椎动物群落的发生。我们专注于单一的非盟生态系统（〜5 km ²到冬季末）沿着北极阿拉斯加的库帕鲁克河（Kuparuk River）沿岸。在2017年6月和8月期间，从50根直径3.5厘米的PVC井中取样了地下无脊椎动物，这些井以5×10的阵列排列，覆盖面积约40公顷。使用四方方法对表面无脊椎动物进行采样。我们记录了丰富的地下水无脊椎动物集合（49 [43–54]分类群，[95％置信度]），它们分布在沉积物表面下方，平均深度为〜69±2 cm（整个孔阵列中的误差为±1 SE）。尽管地下水和地表生境之间的群落结构显着不同，但井和地表沉积物的分类单元丰富度（43 [35-48]分类单元）并没有显着差异，这是令人惊讶的，因为大型河沿砾石-含水层系统的地下生境的丰富度较低在其他地方显示。这是连续多年冻土地区丰富且空间广泛的地下水动物群的首次展示。鉴于非田地的地理范围，北极地区可能会广泛存在依赖于地下水的局部生态系统。