Groundwater invertebrates in the Colorado Rockies

For ten weeks in the summer of 2018, two Colorado College undergraduate researchers conducted a survey of groundwater invertebrates across the Colorado Rockies, sampling hyporheic habitats and a few caves. While most of this work was supported by Colorado College, the Subterranean Ecology Institute also provided supplies, equipment, and miscellaneous expense coverage for the project. Over the course of their research project, the students, Carly Bonwell & Jenna McDonald, collected about 150 quantitative groundwater samples with measurements of water parameters and collections of invertebrates. Preliminary sorting and analyses revealed the presence of at least two new species of groundwater crustaceans.