Priority caves for biodiversity conservation in a key karst area of Brazil: comparing the applicability of cave conservation indices

Rabelo, Lucas Mendes; Souza‐Silva, Marconi; Ferreira, Rodrigo Lopes

doi:10.1007/s10531-018-1554-6

Cited by 27 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Indices have been developed for site selection and conservation prioritization (e.g. Borges et al ., 2012; Rabelo, Souza‐Silva, & Ferreira, 2018; Strona et al ., 2019; Fattorini et al ., 2020), which are often based on complementarity, flexibility, and irreplaceability principles (Michel et al ., 2009). Yet, rigorous geospatial analysis is still rarely applied when the extents of protected areas are being determined.…”

Section: Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fundamental research questions in subterranean biology

et al. 2020

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Five decades ago, a landmark paper in Science titled The Cave Environment heralded caves as ideal natural experimental laboratories in which to develop and address general questions in geology, ecology, biogeography, and evolutionary biology. Although the ‘caves as laboratory’ paradigm has since been advocated by subterranean biologists, there are few examples of studies that successfully translated their results into general principles. The contemporary era of big data, modelling tools, and revolutionary advances in genetics and (meta)genomics provides an opportunity to revisit unresolved questions and challenges, as well as examine promising new avenues of research in subterranean biology. Accordingly, we have developed a roadmap to guide future research endeavours in subterranean biology by adapting a well‐established methodology of ‘horizon scanning’ to identify the highest priority research questions across six subject areas. Based on the expert opinion of 30 scientists from around the globe with complementary expertise and of different academic ages, we assembled an initial list of 258 fundamental questions concentrating on macroecology and microbial ecology, adaptation, evolution, and conservation. Subsequently, through online surveys, 130 subterranean biologists with various backgrounds assisted us in reducing our list to 50 top‐priority questions. These research questions are broad in scope and ready to be addressed in the next decade. We believe this exercise will stimulate research towards a deeper understanding of subterranean biology and foster hypothesis‐driven studies likely to resonate broadly from the traditional boundaries of this field.

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Section: Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fundamental research questions in subterranean biology

et al. 2020

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“…Being delicate and sheltered environments, caves have been widely used to quantify the impacts of human activities on different ecosystem components and to discuss conservation issues (Tercafs 1988, Watson 1997, Slaney and Weinstein 1997, Trajano 2000, Harvey et al 2011, Reboleira et al 2011, Culver and Pipan 2014, Wynne et al 2014. As the funding available for conservation of biodiversity is limited (Meyers et al 2000), special focus has been given to develop cave priority indexes to obtain objective criteria for channeling conservation efforts (Borges et al 2004, Michel et al 2009, Souza-Silva and Ferreira 2015, Jaffé et al 2016, Nitzu et al 2018; see also Rabelo et al 2018 for a comparison of different indexes). A global mapping of subterranean biodiversity hotspots is also emerging (Culver and Sket 2000, Culver and Pipan 2009, Trajano et al 2016, Sousa-Silva and Ferreira 2015, although the definition of hotspots is currently based on arbitrary criteria -sites hosting more than 20 stygobionts/troglobionts (Culver and Sket 2000).…”

Section: Human-induced Ecological Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding answers in the dark: caves as models in ecology fifty years after Poulson and White

2018

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The use of semi-isolated habitats such as oceanic islands, lakes and mountain summits as model systems has played a crucial role in the development of evolutionary and ecological theory. Soon after the discovery of life in caves, different pioneering authors similarly recognized the great potential of these peculiar habitats as biological model systems. In their 1969 paper in Science, 'The cave environment', Poulson and White discussed how caves can be used as natural laboratories in which to study the underlying principles governing the dynamics of more complex environments. Together with other seminal syntheses published at the time, this work contributed to establishing the conceptual foundation for expanding the scope and relevance of cave-based studies. Fifty years after, the aim of this review is to show why and how caves and other subterranean habitats can be used as eco-evolutionary laboratories. Recent advances and directions in different areas are provided, encompassing community ecology, trophicwebs and ecological networks, conservation biology, macroecology and climate change biology. Special emphasis is given to discuss how caves are only part of the extended network of fissures and cracks that permeate most substrates and, thus, their ecological role as habitat islands is critically discussed. Numerous studies have quantified the relative contribution of abiotic, biotic and historical factors in driving species distributions and community turnovers in space and time, from local to regional scales. Conversely, knowledge of macroecological patterns of subterranean organisms at a global scale remains largely elusive, due to major geographical and taxonomical biases. Also, knowledge regarding subterranean trophic webs and the effect of anthropogenic climate change on deep subterranean ecosystems is still limited. In these research fields, the extensive use of novel molecular and statistical tools may hold promise for quickly producing relevant information not accessible hitherto.

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“…Limestone caves are under immense pressure from anthropogenic activities, especially in recent years [9], and are probably one of the centers of biodiversity for certain types of cyanobacteria [2], especially for species from families Hapalosiphonaceae and Symphyonemataceae [43].…”

Section: Ecology Of Cyanobacteria In Cavesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The absence of photosynthetic organisms leads cave cavernicolous species to depend on allochthonous resources or, in rare cases, on chemoautotrophic bacteria and roots [8]. Allochthonous resources are carried by water, wind, gravity, or animals that are translocating between caves and external environments; thus cave communities are highly dependent on the adjacent epigean environments [3,9]. Cave ecosystems are characterized by stable conditions, although cave habitats are extremely oligotrophic, receiving limited supplies of organic matter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lamprinou et al [4] suggested that very few cyanobacteria are considered as obligatory cavernicolous such as Geitleria calcarea, G. floridana, Herpyzonema pulverulentum, and Symphyonema cavernicolum. However, Hoch and Ferreira [16] and Rabelo et al [9] stated that the cave environments favor scenarios of high endemism, where species can be restricted even to a single cave. This high endemism leads several species to be threatened, particularly in tropical regions where the demand for mineral resources, food production, and energy generation has grown due to rapid development and population growth [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diversity of Cyanobacteria on Limestone Caves

Czerwik-Marcinkowska¹,

Massalski²

2018

Cyanobacteria

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The caves are the biodiversity centers for different types of microorganisms, especially for cyanobacteria. They are also present in almost all extreme environments, and their importance in terrestrial ecosystems is greater because of the decreased competition from vascular plants. Cyanobacteria occurring on rocks are epilithic (colonizing the substrate surface), hypolithic (growing under pebbles and small stones), and endolithic (present in an upper layer of rock). There are three limiting factors for cyanobacteria growing in caves: light or its lack, high humidity, and constant temperature. In caves, one can find not only the cosmopolitan cavernicolous species but also rare taxa. Light, transmission, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laboratory cultures, as well as molecular phylogenetic studies are important tools in the study of cave cyanobacteria.

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Priority caves for biodiversity conservation in a key karst area of Brazil: comparing the applicability of cave conservation indices

Cited by 27 publications

References 50 publications

Fundamental research questions in subterranean biology

Fundamental research questions in subterranean biology

Finding answers in the dark: caves as models in ecology fifty years after Poulson and White

Diversity of Cyanobacteria on Limestone Caves

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