Biological Monitoring in Caves

Leta 1999 sva opisala 20 jam in kraških vodnjakov, v katerih živi po 20 ali več na podzemlje vezanih vrst živali. Pet izmed teh jam je ali pa je bilo urejenih za turistično izrabo: Postojnsko-planinski jamski sistem (Slovenija), Sistem Baget - Sainte Catherine (Francija), Shelta Cave (Alabama, ZDA), Mammoth Cave (Kentucky, ZDA) in Vjetrenica (Bosna in Hercegovina). Prav dejstvo, da imajo lahko močno preurejene jame z visokim številom obiskovalcev tudi pestro favno, kaže, da se oboje ne izključuje. Številne standardne tehnike za vzorčevanje, so uporabne le v maloštevilnih jamah. Te metode so le omejeno uporabne. Onesnaženje je lahko za jamske živali neposredno pogubno ali pa omogoča površinskim živalim, da tudi v podzemlju izpodrivajo. Zato moramo zasledovati tako gostoto favne, kot tudi spremembe v njeni taksonomski sestavi. Ob načrtovanju novih posegov je treba pred kakršnim koli urejanjem raziskati krajevno favno, tako površinsko kot podzemeljsko. Za biološko zasledovanje stanja priporočava naslednje: 1. vzorčenje skozi daljše obdobje; 2. nastavljanje vab v kopenskih in v vodnih habitatih; 3. nastavljanje lončastih pasti v kopenskih habitatih.In 1999, we described the twenty caves and karst wells that have 20 or more species of obligate cave organisms living in them. Among these caves five are developed as tourist caves — Postojna-Planina Cave System (Slovenia), Baget - Sainte Catherine System (France), Shelta Cave (Alabama, USA), Mammoth Cave (Kentucky, USA), and Vjetrenica Cave (Bosnia & Herzegovina). For these and other tourist caves, there is a special responsibility to protect this fauna. The very fact that caves with large numbers of visitors and with modifications to the cave can have high species diversity shows that the two are not incompatible. Many of the standard sampling techniques, may work in some caves only; they are of restricted use. Pollution may be either directly detrimental to the cave fauna or may enable surface species to outcompete the endemic cave fauna. Therefore, changes in the quantity of fauna have to be monitored as well as changes in its taxonomic composition. In the case of new tourist installations, the local cave and surface fauna has to be investigated prior to any modifications. For biological monitoring, we recommend one of the following: 1. minimum-time census, rather than minimum-area census; 2. baiting in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats; 3. pitfall traps (baited or unbaited) in terrestrial habitats

Age Estimates for Some Subterranean Taxa and Lineages in the Dinaric Karst

Using a comparative phylogeographic approach and different independent molecular clocks we propose a timescale for the evolution of troglobionts in the Dinaric Karst that is relatively consistent over a wide taxonomic range. Keystone events seem to belong to two age classes. (1) Major splits within holodinaric taxa are from the mid-Miocene. They present the potential upper limit for the age of cave invasions. (2) Regional differentiation, including speciation, which can at least in part be associated with a subterranean phase, took place from early Pliocene to mid-Pleistocene. We suggest two to five million years as the time when most of the analyzed lineages started invading the Dinaric Karst underground

Improvements to the "sket bottle": a simple manual device for sampling small crustaceans from marine caves and other cryptic habitats

Dark littoral submarine caves can act as enclaves of the deep aphotic zone in shallow coastal areas, and their survey has revealed the existence of a very particular fauna of specialized and poorly known organisms among which crustaceans are particularly well represented. In these particular habitats, the use of conventional sampling techniques, such as hand nets, is often not recommended since they disturb bottom sediments causing hazardous situations to scientific divers. The use of baited traps, while technically possible, is not. always practical is such remote habitats. The present work describes a simple and inexpensive manual device that can be operated by divers ill submarine caves and other cryptic habitats to recurrently catch small motile organisms such as mysid crustaceans, caridean shrimps, or even gobiid fishes. This small suction bottle derived and improved from the original "Sket bottle" design considerably reduces the risks of disturbing the cave's bottom sediment and can be easily operated using a single hand. The described sampling device can also be easily used outside caves, in a variety of particular habitats, e.g., rubble filled bottoms, branching coral reefs, cracks, and small holes on rocky surfaces, in which small motile organisms usually escape from traditional sampling gears, e.g., fishnets and traps, or simply go unnoticed by researchers during sampling.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Östliche Gruppe der Monolistrini (Crust., Isoopoda): II.Biologischer Teil

Following the first systematic part, in this paper the author describes the biological observations made on these Isopod Crustaceans of underground waters. The different sexual characters of the particular groups and the related differences in the behaviour before copulation are described. During the embryonic and larval development small differences between sub-genus are reported. To the differences in Caecospaeroma (according to Daum) the first and second “mancastadium” and another “postmanca stadium” with pereiopods VII not wholly formed have to be added. The author describes the growth of the different parts of the corps and the extremities, comprising the sexual characters

The nature of biodiversity in hypogean waters and how it is endangered

The specialised aquatic hypogean, i.e. stygobiotic, fauna has been recognised in some regions moderately rich. Slovenia, the broader Dinaric region, and Europe are particularly rich with about 7–8% of all Metazoa and about 40% of Crustacea species being stygobionts. The hypogean biotic diversity is in general predominantly a crustacean diversity. The high number of stygobiont Crustacea–Malacostraca species can be explained by the near absence of Insecta as well as by their high endemicity and sometimes additional specialisation, i.e. the spatial and ecological partition of the environment by the species. Although one cave system may exceptionally shelter up to 40 stygobiont species, they are distributed there into separate associations. Among more than 2000 described stygobiontic Malacostraca species, which include close to 950 Amphipoda, the species numbers within some genera are very high (e.g. Niphargus with 275 spp.). With 10 orders represented the higher taxonomic diversity of stygobiont Malacostraca matches that of fresh waters or the sea. Comparison of some faunas shows that the limiting factors for biodiversity might be the lower ecological diversity of habitats and restricted food resources underground, both brought about to a high degree by the darkness and absence of plants. Being K-strategists, stygobionts are endangered by any sudden changes in their environment. In the case of an increased food input by modest organic pollution, they can be outcompeted by energetically demanding but competitively stronger recent immigrants from surface

Östliche Gruppe der Monolistrini (Crust. Isopoda) I. Systematischer Teil

The author gives a diagnosis for all eastern Monoslistrinae known today, grouping them in the genus Monolistra and dealing with their geographical distribution. He also gives incomplete descriptions of some forms and also describes the new subgenus Monolistrella for M. velkovrhi Sket, the new species M. (Typhlosphaeroma) matjasici and M. (Microlistra) pretneri and the new subspecies M. (Monolistra) caeca intermedia, M. (Typhlosphaeroma) racovitzai pseudoberica and M. (Typhlosphaeroma) racovitzai conopyge

The Adriatic coast as the cradle of anchihaline (anchialine) ecology

A short investigation history of anchihaline (anchialine) habitats is given. In the 1950s to 1960s the Adriatic coast was particularly intensely studied in this respect. The first systematic research into anchihaline ecology was done in this area in the 1960s (published in 1986). Stability of salinity-density stratification was noted, resulting in occurrence of dysoxic-sulfidic layers. The fauna is distributed mainly within the paralittoral merodinaric zone; two paradoxical phenomena were named the \u27Kvarner inversion\u27 and the \u27Hadzia inversion\u27