Biogeographical patterns of endemic diversity and its conservation in Australia's artesian desert springs

Aim: Springs in the Australian arid zone are distinct from other waterways because they house a large number of endemic species. We aimed to assess spatial patterns in endemic diversity at a basin-wide scale and whether environmental features can help to explain them. In doing so, we take the opportunity to summarize the current state of conservation in the system.Location: Great Artesian Basin (GAB), arid and semiarid regions of eastern AustraliaMethods: We combine data regarding the location of springs with published GIS layers regarding environmental characteristics and a literature review of all species and subspecies documented in the published literature to be endemic to GAB springs.Results: We found evidence of 96 species and subspecies of fishes, molluscs, crustaceans and plants endemic to these springs. The majority of endemic species are invertebrates with geographical distributions limited to a single spring complex