Mesofauna at the Soil-Scree Interface in a Deep Karst Environment

Abstract

The community patterns of Collembola (Hexapoda) were studied at two sites along a microclimatically inversed scree slope in a deep karst valley in the Western Carpathians, Slovakia, in warm and cold periods of the year, respectively. Significantly lower average temperatures in the scree profile were noted at the gorge bottom in both periods, meaning that the site in the lower part of the scree, near the bank of creek, was considerably colder and wetter compared to the warmer and drier site at upper part of the scree slope. Relatively high diversity of Collembola was observed at two fieldwork scree sites, where cold-adapted species, considered climatic relicts, showed considerable abundance. The gorge bottom, with a cold and wet microclimate and high carbon content even in the deeper MSS horizons, provided suitable environmental conditions for numerous psychrophilic and subterranean species. Ecological groups such as trogloxenes and subtroglophiles showed decreasing trends of abundance with depth, in contrast to eutroglophiles and a troglobiont showing an opposite distributional pattern at scree sites in both periods. Our study documented that in terms of soil and subterranean mesofauna, colluvial screes of deep karst gorges represent (1) a transition zone between the surface and the deep subterranean environment, and (2) important climate change refugia.

Desoria calderonis sp. nov., a new species of alpine cryophilic springtail (Collembola: Isotomidae) from the Apennines (Italy), with phylogenetic and ecological considerations

“…Cryophilic springtails (Hexapoda: Collembola) are cold-and moisture-requiring organisms, whose typical habitat is near or above ice or snow (Deharveng et al 2008;Fjellberg 2010;Buda et al 2020;Valle et al 2020;Jureková et al 2021). Desoria saltans Nicolet, 1841 (Entomobryomorpha: Isotomidae) is among the best known cryophilic springtails and is commonly known as the "glacier flea".…”

A comparison of collecting methods in relation to the diversity of Collembola in scree habitats

“…In contrast, comparing species inventories carried out by pitfall traps in different habitats is difficult, because capture efficiency is biased in many ways, i.e., sampling interval, degree of activity of individual taxa and their behavioural reaction to the con-servation fluid (e.g., Woodcock 2005; Querner and Bruckner 2010; Knapp and Ružička 2012;Carneiro et al 2016;Hohbein and Conway 2018). Furthermore, the vertical stratification of Collembola assemblages in the soil/scree may be markedly influenced by the microclimate across its depth profile (e.g., Hopkin 1997;Cassagne et al 2003;Nitzu et al 2014;Jureková et al 2021). Regarding colluvial MSS, soil Collembola usually migrate to deeper scree levels with higher and more stable moisture during warm and dry periods (e.g., Nitzu et al 2014;Mammola et al 2017;Mammola 2019), which may elucidate great quantities of hemi-and euedaphic forms in pitfall traps at some sites.…”

“…1A, B). For more detailed characteristics of the study sites, see also the previous studies (Jureková et al 2019(Jureková et al , 2021):…”

“…In recent years, increased attention has been paid to arthropods inhabiting a peculiar underground environment, the so-called mesovoid shallow substratum (MSS) (e.g., Jiménez-Valverde et al 2015;Rendoš et al 2016Rendoš et al , 2020Nitzu et al 2018;. This aphotic habitat with relatively stable microclimate conditions is considered to be an intermediate zone between the soil surface and deep subterranean realm (e.g., caves, pits), in which both epigean and hypogean animals are represented (Gers 1998;Juberthie 2000;Mammola et al 2016;Jureková et al 2021).…”

Advancing Cave Detection Using Terrain Analysis and Thermal Imagery

“…These systems often support troglomorphic (subterranean-adapted) species with narrow geographic ranges (i.e., occurring within a single cave or watershed [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]) and are often represented by small populations [16,17]. Cave entrances have also been identified as important habitats for relict arthropod species from the last glaciation [18][19][20][21][22] and extensive surface disturbance [23][24][25]. While some areas have been identified as hotspots for endemism and diversity [7,26], cave communities in most regions globally remain largely unknown.…”