#freshwater spring

[wildwithlight]

[dartharaiz]

Tirtagangga garden was built around a water spring (depicted in this photo) by the King of Karangasem (in the 1920s iirc), as a recreation spot for the people in Karangasem. One can enjoy the koi ponds, and even swim here (yup, the pool in this photo is a swimming pool!)

[oceancoresunset]

Freshwater mermaid representation now: gar-maids, catfish-maids, alligator-maids. Manatee-maids, bowfin-maids, bullhead-maids, bass-maids

And everything else that I can’t think of rn

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Yale Environment 360:

Strong winds sweep over the Rhön, a vast region of rolling, forested hills and pastureland in central Germany. Undeterred, Stefan Zaenker, leading a group of four volunteers, runs through his checklist alongside a forest road. Are rubber boots disinfected to prevent introducing potentially harmful microorganisms into the wetland? Are the team app and GPS functioning correctly? Have enough flags been packed?

When all is in order, Zaenker, 56, leads the group into a soggy alder forest. Its mission for the day: to locate and map as-yet-undiscovered springs and document any species inhabiting them.

A senior conservation official for the state of Hesse, Zaenker considers springs so important for human life and biodiversity that he — along with volunteers from the Hesse Association for Cave and Karst Research — spends much of his spare time conducting large-scale searches for them in the Rhön, which includes the German states of Bavaria, Thuringia, and Hesse, and in a nearby national park.

Conservation strategies around the globe focus on rivers, bogs, forests, reefs, and many other habitat types. Springs rarely get any special attention. In the United States, for example, springs do “not appear to be a prominent feature on the conservation radar,” says Kirsten Work, a zoologist from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.

But for the biosphere, these tiny spots dotted across Earth’s land surface play a powerful role: They connect reservoirs of groundwater to the outside, sunlit world. Only so-called “fossil” aquifers — ancient bodies of groundwater that do not recharge — lack a link with the surface. Without a continual connection to groundwater, which also feeds rivers, many landscapes would quickly dry up and become hotter. In addition, springs are home to a wide range of highly specialized species, some of which live outside by night and in the darkness of groundwater by day.

Far too little is known about where springs occur and what species they harbor, Zaenker says. In a country like Germany, which has no wilderness but a very efficient bureaucracy, most people assume that everything in nature has already been discovered and mapped. This is not true, he claims: “I can stand right next to an impressive spring with water flowing out, but the official topographical map shows nothing.” Official maps denote springs with a blue dot, indicating they are habitats protected by law. Yet many — if not most — springs remained undocumented. “How are we going to effectively protect these important habitats or know if they dry up,” asks Zaenker, “if we don’t even know they exist?”

Halfway around the globe, ecologist Larry Stevens is on a similar mission and is equally worried about the future of springs. In 2013, Stevens cofounded the Springs Stewardship Institute, a nonprofit science initiative linked with the Museum of Northern Arizona, and in 2023 he published Springs of the World: Distribution, Ecology, and Conservation. Stevens considers springs prime examples of “canaries in coal mines” because they act as early warning systems of water table decline and biodiversity loss.

Stevens is particularly fascinated by the large number of highly specialized and endemic species found in and around springs. He points out that with constant temperatures and high purity, spring water offers unique living conditions. Springs are often isolated from one another geographically and many have been in place for millennia, characteristics that make them hotspots for new species to arise and refuges for species that have lost their habitats elsewhere. “Although miniscule in habitat area compared to rivers, lakes, and oceans, springs support more than 10 percent of U.S. endangered species, as well as thousands of other rare and endemic biota,” he notes. For example, the so-called Comal Springs riffle beetle is limited to a few springs in Texas, while the endangered White River springfish lives only in isolated warm springs in eastern Nevada.

While there are many spectacular springs — like the white Pamukkale terraces of Turkey, Blue Spring in New Zealand, or the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park — most are rather inconspicuous. That doesn’t diminish their importance, though. Every creek, river, pond, and lake starts with at least one, and often many, springs.

[valaria-the-merfolk]

[rabbitpaws]

Green Zirconia and Freshwater Pearl Flower Gold Fairy Woodland Earrings ✨️

Featuring brass fairies that dangle from leaf charms and Freshwater Pearl flower beads with dainty Green Zirconia pendants. The hooks are gold plated 🧚‍♂️

They hang 3.25 inches

Made with nickel free materials

Buy them here

[laikacore]

Photo by laika wallace

[m0e-ru]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to the day my brain was literally rewired and my gender was being changed by the second SO HERES A GAS STATION SPECIAL before this joint was even a gas station in the FIRST PLACE !!!!

FUCKING FREAK

[wildwithlight]

[dartharaiz]

[glazenewt]

Ne Items! New Stickers! New Charms! Get ready and excited for my next shop update, going live on Friday, July 26th, by 5pm EST!

In the meantime... check out what else I have in my shop, here!

[pinklemonadecollective]

Find the human 🌿✨

[ley-med]

In my quest to find god I drank water from a holy fountain and now my tummy hurts so I guess it's a no from him

[hartshorn-and-isinglass]

(image description under the cut)

Image description: screenshots from Wikipedia article. "Colma, California: Colma (Ohlone for "Springs") is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, [...] The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924. [...] With most of Colma's land dedicated to cemeteries, the population of the dead--not specifically known but speculated to be around 1.5 million--outnumbers that of the living by a ratio of nearly a thousand to one. This has led to Colma being called "the City of the Silent" [...] Motto: "It's great to be alive in Colma". End image description.

awesome

[valaria-the-merfolk]

A turtle friend I met at the spring!

[zalabiya]

can't believe my beach holiday is over like what do you mean i won't wake up to the smell of the ocean and the sound of gulls cawing anymore?!