A conservation roadmap for the subterranean biome

The 15th UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (COP15) will be held in Kunming, China in October 2021. Historically, CBDs and other multilateral treaties have either alluded to or entirely overlooked the subterranean biome. A multilateral effort to robustly examine, monitor, and incorporate the subterranean biome into future conservation targets will enable the CBD to further improve the ecological effectiveness of protected areas by including groundwater resources, subterranean ecosystem services, and the profoundly endemic subsurface biodiversity. To this end, we proffer a conservation roadmap that embodies five conceptual areas: (1) science gaps and data management needs; (2) anthropogenic stressors; (3) socioeconomic analysis and conflict resolution; (4) environmental education; and (5) national policies and multilateral agreements.Peer reviewe

Brazilian cave heritage under siege

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Distribution of crickets (Subfamily: Phalangopsinae) in caves of Baratang Island, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Cave-dwelling organisms share different ecological and evolutionary relationships with caves. Based on these interactions, they are categorized as troglobites, troglophiles, and trogloxenes. In India, caves are meagerly explored, and thus cave study is in its infancy in India. Through the present study, we attempted to understand and model the distribution of crickets (Family Phalangopsidae), a critical group of insects - being the primary consumers in the cave ecosystems. We sampled seven caves using belt transects (N = 184; total area covered = 1294.9 m2) with 1 m width. During the survey, we encountered 818 individual crickets (116.85 ± 47.16 SD per cave). Of these, 87.7% encounters were on walls, 7.09% were on the ceiling, and 5.13% were on the cave floor. We used the Single-species Multi-season occupancy model to calculate the overall, zone-wise, and cave-specific occupancy. Cricket occupancy in Baratang caves is seasonal and highly zonal, with detectability ≤1. The cave with less distinct zones has more consistent occupancies and zero chances of extinction and colonization. Hence, these caves serve as suitable habitat for the source population. A negative correlation of cave morphometric features (cave volume, wall surface area, and floor surface area), and density of crickets (p \u3c 0.05), might need further validation. The study shows the need for detailed studies regarding cricket taxonomy and ecology towards establishing the conservation importance of the species and their habitat in the islands

Roosting patterns of the Edible-Nest Swiftlet (<i>Aerodramus fuciphagus</i>) of the Andaman Islands: effects of lunar phase and breeding chronology

<p>Environmental conditions and biological rhythms can affect the behavioural routines of animals. However, the effect of lunar phase on individual roosting behaviour remains uninvestigated in most species. Here, we monitored the effect of lunar phase, sunset time, temperature, humidity and the breeding chronology on the roosting patterns of the Edible-Nest Swiftlet (<i>Aerodramus fuciphagus</i>) of the Andaman Islands, across breeding stages. Counts revealed that more than 98% of the population returned to the roosting caves during peak roosting hours, i.e. 1700–2000h. The proportion of birds roosting in caves was highest during the ‘new moon’ phase and when birds were at the nest-building and fledging stage of their breeding cycle. We confirmed that the variation in the roosting behaviour of the Edible-Nest Swiftlet is linked both to the stages in the breeding cycle and to the lunar phase. We hypothesise that the cause for the lunarphilic roosting pattern is an anti-predator strategy. Feeding habits and food requirements during different breeding stages are presumed to influence the roosting pattern of the species. An improved understanding of the association of the behaviour, physiology and the environmental conditions which influence these traits can only help us improve conservation outcomes for this economically important species.</p