Distribution and Habitat Requirements of the Ozark Cavefish, Amblyopsis rosae

Abstract

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Divergence in trophic ecology characterizes colonization of extreme habitats

“…Caves relying on energy input from surface habitats are known to be energy limited (Streever, 1996; Hüppop, 2000; Poulson & Lavoie, 2000). Bat guano is thought to be the trophic base of cave food webs whenever bats are present and provide an energy‐rich food base (Culver, 1982; Willis & Brown, 1985), but recent work indicates that this is not necessarily the case (Graening & Brown, 2003).…”

ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS AND POLLUTION EFFECTS IN AN OZARK CAVE STREAM1

“…Bat feces (guano) may supply sufficient food to relax the selective pressure of oligotrophy, with resulting changes in community structure, including the presence of species without troglomorphic (cave adapted) characteristics (Culver, 1982). Bat guano is thought to be the trophic base of cave food webs (Poulson, 1972;Willis and Brown, 1985), but few studies have tested this hypothesis. The regional decline of many bat populations (Harvey, 1996) and the resulting loss of guano input may fundamentally alter cave food webs.…”

First Parasites (Cnidaria: Myxobolidae; Trematoda: Digenea: Clinostomidae) Reported from the Threatened Ozark Cavefish, Troglichthys rosae (Percopsiformes: Amblyopsidae), from Arkansas, U.S.A., with a Summary of the Parasites of North American Cavefishes

“…The Ozark cavefish, Troglichthys rosae (Eigenmann, 1898, syn: Amblyopsis rosae ; Fig. 1), is a small, blind, white to pinkish fish whose range includes fewer than 50 caves and wells within the Arkansas and upper White River drainages of the Springfield Plateau of the Ozark Highlands in southwestern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, and northeastern Oklahoma, U.S.A. (Brown and Willis, 1984; Willis and Brown, 1985; Page and Burr, 2011; Robison and Buchanan, 2020). The largest known population of T. rosae is at Cave Springs, Benton County, Arkansas, U.S.A. (Graening et al, 2010).…”

“…Although a great deal of information is available on various aspects of the ecology and natural history of T. rosae (Brown and Willis, 1984; Willis and Brown, 1985; Brown and Todd, 1987; Means and Johnson, 1995; Adams and Johnson, 2001; Brown and Johnson, 2001; Graening et al, 2010, 2011; Niemiller et al, 2013; Armbruster et al, 2016), nothing is known about its parasites (Hoffman, 1999). Here we report the first parasites documented from this threatened fish.…”