Information about the occurrence of medium-sized and large mammals in the Cerrado and the Atlantic Forest is essential for monitoring the conservation status of these species in such biodiversity hotspots. This study presents the results of a survey of medium-sized and large mammals from Quedas do Rio Bonito Ecological Park, located in an ecotone between Cerrado and Atlantic Forest in Southeastern Brazil. Four sampling methods were used: sand plots, camera traps, line transects and tomahawk traps. We recorded 20 species belonging to 12 families and 7 orders, with a high occurrence of Carnivora (50%). We highlight the occurrence of five endangered species: Chrysocyon brachyurus, Leopardus pardalis, L. guttulus, Puma yagouaroundi and P. concolor. The species with the highest frequencies of occurrence were P. concolor (27%), C. brachyurus (17%), and Sylvilagus brasiliensis (13%). Our results confirm that, despite their small size, forest fragments are essential for “top-of-the-chain” species conservation in the region.

Tourism activity affects the cave's physical environment in several ways, such as damaging speleothems, altering the cave structure for ease of access, and the shifting of cave microclimate. Nevertheless, it is less clear how the pressure of touristic activities affects the cave fauna. This study aimed to investigate the effects from tourism activities on the cave invertebrate fauna from Gruta de Lanquín Cave (Alta Verapaz, Guatemala). For this, quadrats were placed throughout the cave, where invertebrates were sampled and substrate features were measured. Results showed that the community structure differed among touristic and non‐touristic areas of the cave and the troglobitic species are structured differently than the rest of the invertebrate community in the cave. It was detected that the pathways designated for touristic use have different substrate features than their adjacent areas. In order to maintain the conservation of the invertebrate species, several management recommendations are provided, such as determining a well‐established walking path that avoids cave microhabitats and the maintenance of a supervised guided tour.

Several studies have tried to elucidate the main environmental features driving invertebrate community structure in cave environments. They found that many factors influence the community structure, but rarely focused on how substrate types and heterogeneity might shape these communities. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess which substrate features and whether or not substrate heterogeneity determines the invertebrate community structure (species richness and composition) in a set of limestone caves in Guatemala. We hypothesized that the troglobitic fauna responds differently to habitat structure regarding species richness and composition than non-troglobitic fauna because they are more specialized to live in subterranean habitats. Using 30 m2 transects, the invertebrate fauna was collected and the substrate features were measured. The results showed that community responded to the presence of guano, cobbles, boulders, and substrate heterogeneity. The positive relationship between non-troglobitic species composition with the presence of guano reinforces the importance of food resources for structuring invertebrate cave communities in Guatemalan caves. Furthermore, the troglobitic species responded to different substrate features when compared to non-troglobitic species. For them, instead of the presence of organic matter, a higher variety of abiotic microhabitats seem to be the main driver for species diversity within a cave. The high specialization level of troglobitic organisms might be the reason why they respond differently to environmental conditions. The findings of this study highlight the importance of biological surveys for understanding cave biodiversity and give insights on how this biodiversity might be distributed within a cave. Conservation measures should keep in mind the target organisms and if such measures aim to protect a broad variety of organisms, then one should aim to preserve as many microhabitats and trophic resources as possible.

Knowing how cave lithology influences the benthic macroinvertebrate fauna is important for conservation and management of subterranean aquatic systems. However, those influences are still poorly understood, especially in the Neotropics. This study aimed to understand how cave lithology can influence benthic EPT assemblages by assessing the differences in the EPT genera structure in caves of two distinct lithologies (quartzite and limestone) and determining possible differences in the lithology habitats. To achieve this, hydrochemistry data and biological samples were collected in six allogenic cave streams from the two aforementioned lithologies. Results showed that both the assemblages from different lithologies and within the same lithology are statistically different, thus indicating probable regional influences beyond local ones. Our results also pointed out an effect of lithology on the substrate parameters, which in turn affected the EPT composition. Cave lithology affects water chemical and physical characteristics, thus supporting different EPT assemblages. The results of this study provide a foundation for future investigation on how the lithology can influence the benthic macroinvertebrate fauna and should lead to means of predicting such fauna on the basis of the cave lithology and water chemistry.