WHAT MAKES THE EDWARDS UNIQUE

1
WHAT MAKES THE EDWARDS UNIQUE?

• gt 1.8 million people depend on it for their
  source of water

2
Edwards Aquifer Ecosystem
Sustaining essential freshwater flows to bays and
estuaries during times of drought
Guadalupe Estuary San Antonio Bay
3
The Edwards Region is home to over 50 plant and
animal species that live nowhere else in the
world.

• No other aquifer in the world has the organism
  diversity that the Edwards has.
• No other known karst system has the range of cave
  adapted insects, fish, and salamanders found in
  the Edwards.

4

• Endangered Species of the Edwards Region
• On the Land
• Golden Cheeked Warbler
• Black Capped Vireo
• 9 Species of Karst Invertibrates
• -found in caves
• In the Springs and the Aquifer
• Texas Wild Rice
• Fountain Darter
• Comal Springs Dryopid Beetle
• San Marcos Gambusia
• Pecks Cave Amphipod
• Comal Springs Riffle Beetle
• Texas Blind Salamander
• Dependent on Edwards Spring flows
• The Whooping Crane

5
Edwards Aquifer EcosystemA Treasure at Risk
Rapid, unsustainable urbanization is pushing
aquatic species to the brink of extinction
Barton Springs salamander with gas bubble disease