Studies of the Fauna of Percolation Water of Huda Luknja, a Cave in Isolated Karst in Northeast Slovenia

Pipan, Tanja; Navodnik, Vesna; Janžekovič, Franc; Novak, Tone

doi:10.3986/ac.v37i1.166

Cited by 27 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…For this reason, they frequently make webs over the pitfall trap orifices (authors and Slavko Polak's unpublished data). It has also been reported from small mammal burrows (Deeleman Reinhold, 1978) and water drips, which probably originate in vertical bedrock fissures (Pipan et al, 2008). This species thus prefers narrow subsurface habitats rather than caves, which is in agreement with its relatively high level of freezing resistance throughout the year, comparable to that for the trogloxenes.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Cold tolerance in terrestrial invertebrates inhabiting subterranean habitats

Novak¹,

Šajna²,

Antolinc³

et al. 2014

IJS

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Most organisms are able to survive shorter or longer exposure to sub-zero temperatures. Hypothetically, trogloxenes characterized as not adapted, and troglophiles as not completely adapted to thermally stable subterranean environment, have retained or partially retained their ability to withstand freezing, while most troglobionts have not. We tested this hypothesis experimentally on 37 species inhabiting caves in Slovenia, analyzing their lower lethal temperatures in summer and winter, or for one season, if the species was not present in caves during both seasons. Specimens were exposed for 12 hrs to 1°C-stepwise descending temperatures with 48 hr breaks. In general, the resistance to freezing was in agreement with the hypothesis, decreasing from trogloxenes over troglophiles to troglobionts. However, weak resistance was preserved in nearly all troglobionts, which responded in two ways. One group, withstanding freezing to a limited degree, and increasing freezing tolerance in winter, belong to the troglobionts inhabiting the superficial subterranean habitats. The other group, which equally withstand freezing in summer and winter, inhabit deep subterranean or other thermally buffered subterranean habitats. Data on cold resistance can thus serve as an efficient additional measure of adaptation to particular hypogean environments

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Cold tolerance in terrestrial invertebrates inhabiting subterranean habitats

Novak¹,

Šajna²,

Antolinc³

et al. 2014

IJS

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“…The faunistic flow can also occur in these conduits where the environmental filters offer ideal conditions for a few species. Thus, the composition of unsaturated communities depends on different physical and chemical variables at each depth level (Pipan et al 2008, Pipan and Culver 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In these habitats an exceptionally rich fauna occurs, best described in some European karst areas (Pipan et al 2008, Brancelj and Camacho 2009, Meleg et al 2011, Cottarelli et al 2012) and in West Virginia (USA; Pipan and Culver 2005). The organisms that live in the unsaturated zone of the karst are occasionally carried by trickling water to the interior of caves.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, stygobiotic biodiversity in Europe is dominated by Crustacea (Pipan et al 2008, Brancelj and Camacho 2009, Meleg et al 2011. Among these, copepods represent the most common group, with Harpacticoida outnumbering Cyclopoida in diversity and abundance (Moldovan et al 2007, Meleg et al 2011, Cottarelli et al 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among these, copepods represent the most common group, with Harpacticoida outnumbering Cyclopoida in diversity and abundance (Moldovan et al 2007, Meleg et al 2011, Cottarelli et al 2012. Their spatial and temporal distribution appears to be rather heterogeneous and has been related to a number of environmental parameters and cave characteristics, as topography, cave ceiling thickness and/or voids interconnectivity (Stoch 2000, Brancelj 2002, Pipan and Brancelj 2004a, 2004b, Sket et al 2004, Camacho et al 2006, Pipan et al 2008, Meleg et al 2011. Nevertheless, studies on stygofauna in tropical regions are scarce, and non-existent in relation to the unsaturated zone horizons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Aquatic biota of different karst habitats in epigean and subterranean systems of Central Brazil – visibility versus relevance of taxa

Simões¹,

Ferreira²,

Bichuette³

2013

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Citation: Simões LB, dos Santos Ferreira TC, Bichuette ME (2013) Aquatic biota of different karst habitats in epigean and subterranean systems of Central Brazil -visibility versus relevance of taxa. Subterranean Biology 11: 55-74. doi:10.3897/subtbiol.11.5981 AbstractThe karstic area of São Domingos, central Brazil, holds extensive drainage systems. In order to understand its biodiversity, various volumes of water were filtered with planktonic nets in stretches of subterranean and superficial rivers on five different occasions. We sampled four drips (152L), three calcite pools (368L), two subterranean rivers fed mainly by percolation water (6,395L), two subterranean rivers fed mainly by water coming from a sinkhole (4,175L) along different caves, one resurgence (158L), and four epigean rivers (101,690L). Physical and chemical variables were measured at some sites. Canonical Correlation Analysis was used to verify relationships between taxa and environment. The degree of similarity of the biota was assessed by cluster analysis (Sorensen, single linkage). There were records of exclusive taxa in epigean and subterranean samples, mainly in drips, which harbour the most unique fauna. The high richness of taxa presently recorded reveals the potential of the vadose zone biota in the tropical region, which was neglected in studies on Brazilian subterranean biodiversity. According to our results, the unsaturated zone tropical fauna may have different composition compared to that from temperate habitats. The studied communities were dominated by rotifers, while crustacean are predominant in the latter. The hypothesis can be clarified with the increase of long term studies and taxa identification at species level, besides the use of complementary sampling methods.

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How to protect a diverse, poorly known, inaccessible fauna: identification and protection of source and sink habitats in the epikarst

Pipan

Holt

Culver

2010

Aquatic Conservation

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ABSTRACT1. Aquatic subterranean species are often geographically and numerically scarce. Many of these species are denizens of epikarst, the uppermost zone of karst with semi-isolated solutional openings and channels, and are only known from drip pools in caves where they accumulate as a result of animals dripping out of the epikarst.2. The question of whether these pool communities adequately reflected the epikarst community was addressed by directly collecting animals from drips in a continuous collecting device.3. The study area was six caves in Slovenia, where a total of 35 drips and associated pools were sampled for copepods for a period of approximately one year. A total of 37 copepod species were found, 25 of them stygobionts and 16 epikarst specialists.4. Overall, the frequency of stygobionts was 1.5 times higher in drips compared with pools and the frequency of epikarst specialists was three times higher in drips compared with pools, and the frequency of immature individuals was higher in drips compared with pools, with the exception of one artificially enlarged pool in Sˇkocjanske jame. The cause of this difference is probably increased juvenile mortality in pools and reduced reproduction, indicating that pools are not source populations.5. The results of this research suggest that epikarst per se, not just the sampling sites (including pools) in caves, needs to be the focus of conservation planning.

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Studies of the Fauna of Percolation Water of Huda Luknja, a Cave in Isolated Karst in Northeast Slovenia

Cited by 27 publications

References 8 publications

Cold tolerance in terrestrial invertebrates inhabiting subterranean habitats

Cold tolerance in terrestrial invertebrates inhabiting subterranean habitats

Aquatic biota of different karst habitats in epigean and subterranean systems of Central Brazil – visibility versus relevance of taxa

How to protect a diverse, poorly known, inaccessible fauna: identification and protection of source and sink habitats in the epikarst

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