Cave Conservation Priority Index to Adopt a Rapid Protection Strategy: A Case Study in Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest

Abstract

Cave environments are characterized by possessing specialized fauna living in high environmental stability with limited food conditions. These fauna are highly vulnerable to impacts, because this condition can frequently be easily altered. Moreover, environmental determinants of the biodiversity patterns of caves remain poorly understood and protected. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to propose a cave conservation priority index (CCPi) for a rapid assessment for troglobiotic and troglophile protection. Furthermore, the troglobiotic diversity, distribution and threats have been mapped in the Brazilian Atlantic forest. To propose the CCPi, the human impacts and richness of troglobiotic and troglophile species of 100 caves were associated. Data related to troglomorphic/troglobiotic fauna from another 200 caves were used to map the troglobiotic diversity and distribution. The CCPi reveals extremely high conservation priority for 15% of the caves, high for 36% and average for 46% of the caves. Fourteen caves with extremely high priorities should have urgent conservation and management actions. The geographical distribution of the 221 known troglobiotic/troglomorphic species allowed us to select 19 karst areas that need conservation actions. Seven areas were considered to have urgent priority for conservation actions. The two richest areas correspond to the "iron quadrangle" with iron ore caves (67 spp.) and the "Açungui limestone group" (56 spp.). Both areas have several caves and are important aquifers. The use of the CCPi can prevent future losses because it helps assessors to select caves with priorities for conservation which should receive emergency attention in relation to protection, management and conservation actions.

Cave invertebrates in Espírito Santo state, Brazil: a primary analysis of endemism, threats and conservation priorities

“…Subsequent studies were made in Ubajara municipality (Ceará state), southern Minas Gerais state, southern Bahia state (limestone province of Rio Pardo) and the Vale do Ribeira limestone province in the extreme south of São Paulo and northeast Paraná regions (Souza-Silva et al 2015). Only after 2010 were geographically broader studies regarding the invertebrate cave fauna in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest conducted (CEBS 2015).…”

“…The main threats come from the destruction of their habitats by mineral exploitation, tourism, vandalism, heavy metals, herbicide or pesticide pollution, eutrophication and biological invasions (Tercafs 1992, Ferreira and Horta 2001, Parise and Gunn 2007, Souza-Silva et al 2015. Thus, many species that inhabit caves can be considered threatened and/or vulnerable to extinction due to habitat specificity that operates by selecting different ecological-evolutionary specializations (trogloxene, troglophile and troglobiont) to the hypogean conditions and environmental resources (Sket 2008).…”

“…Furthermore, due to the high environmental stability of subterranean caves, such environments become highly susceptible to impacts, since this stable condition can often be easily unbalanced. Therefore, any direct or indirect impacts on caves can cause serious damage to the fauna and the physical integrity of these environments (Souza-Silva et al 2015).…”

“…Thus, we attempted to also evaluate the human changes to these caves, using a Cave Conservation Priority index (Souza-Silva et al 2015), in order to suggest general conservation and management actions for the caves and their surrounding forest cover.…”

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Citation: Souza-Silva M, Ferreira RL (2015)

AbstractThe cave-dwelling invertebrates were studied according to their composition, biodiversity, distribution and threats in the Atlantic Forest Central Biodiversity Corridor, a priority area for conservation actions in Brazil. Twelve obligate cave species were found, plus 495 troglophile species.

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