White-nose syndrome (WNS) is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans and has led to the deaths of millions of North American bats since it was first documented in New York in 2006. Since ...the first cases were recorded, WNS has spread rapidly across North America and is now confirmed or suspected in 40 US states and seven Canadian provinces. Often, the presence of P. destructans is detected in a cave or hibernaculum before signs of WNS manifest in the resident bat population, making presence of the fungus a more reliable assessment of potential epidemic spread than expansion of manifested WNS. An analysis of 43 cave internal climates across the state of Texas revealed a pattern of thermal suitability for P. destructans that correlated significantly with landscape (elevation, lithology) and external climate (mean surface temperature and precipitation). We generated a predictive model to assess the potential spread of P. destructans through Texas karst systems based on external features that correlate with suitable internal climates for fungal growth. Applications of this model to external climatic variables from 2019 showed seasonally varying patterns of suitability for fungal growth in select regions of Texas karst systems. Results from these surveys and models showed that internal climates of Texas caves are likely able to sustain the growth of P. destructans and could cause disease and resulting declines in Texas bats, and act as stepping-stones for the fungus, allowing it to travel southward into Mexican and Central American cave systems. The resulting work will inform researchers and natural resource managers of areas of significant concern to monitor for the spread of WNS. El síndrome de la nariz blanca (SNB) es causado por el hongo Pseudogymnoascus destructans y, desde que se documentó por primera vez en Nueva York en el 2006, ha provocado la muerte de millones de murciélagos norteamericanos. A partir de sus primeros descubrimientos, el SNB se ha difundido rápidamente a lo largo de Norteamérica, siendo su presencia actualmente confirmada o sospechada en 40 estados de EE. UU. y siete provincias canadienses. A menudo, la presencia de P. destructans se detecta en una cueva o sitio de hibernación antes de que los síntomas del SNB se manifiesten en la población residente de murciélagos, lo que hace de la presencia del hongo un método de evaluación más confiable de la difusión potencial de la epidemia en comparación con la expansión de casos con SNB manifestado. Un análisis de las condiciones climáticas internas de 43 cuevas en el estado de Texas reveló un patrón de idoneidad térmica para P. destructans significativamente correlacionado con el paisaje (elevación, litología) y las variables climáticas externas (temperatura media superficial y precipitación). En este estudio generamos un modelo predictivo para evaluar la difusión potencial de P. destructans a través de los sistemas kársticos de Texas basado en características externas correlacionadas con condiciones climáticas internas adecuadas para el crecimiento del hongo. Las aplicaciones de este modelo a variables climáticas externas del 2019 mostraron patrones de idoneidad para el crecimiento del hongo estacionalmente variables en regiones seleccionadas de los sistemas kársticos de Texas. Los resultados de este estudio y modelos indican que las condiciones climáticas internas de las cuevas en Texas pueden probablemente sostener el crecimiento de P. destructans y causar la enfermedad, con las consecuentes disminuciones de las poblaciones de murciélagos texanos, así como también actuar como stepping-stones para el hongo, permitiéndole desplazarse hacia el sur en los sistemas de cuevas mexicanos y de América Central. El trabajo resultante informará a los investigadores y administradores de recursos naturales sobre áreas de prioridad elevada para el monitoreo de la difusión del SNB.
Seasonality in surface weather results in seasonal temperature and humidity changes in caves. Ecological and physiological differences among trogloxenes, troglophiles, and troglobionts result in ...species-dependent responses to this variability. To investigate these responses, we conducted five biological inventories in a marble cave in the Sierra Nevada Range, California, USA between May and December 2010. The cave was divided into six quadrats and temperature was continuously logged in each (humidity was logged at the entrance and in the deep cave). With increasing distance from the entrance, temperature changes were increasingly attenuated and lagged relative to surface temperature. Linear regressions were created to determine the relationship between measured environmental variables and diversity for cavernicoles (troglobionts and troglophiles) and trogloxenes cave- wide and in the transition zone. Diversity for cavernicoles and trogloxenes peaked in the entrance and deep cave zones, respectively. Quadrat, date, 2-week antecedent temperature average, 2-week antecedent temperature range, and trogloxene abundance explained 76% of cavernicole diversity variability. Quadrat explained 55% of trogloxene diversity variability. In the transition zone, trogloxene abundance explained 26% of cavernicole variability and 2-week antecedent temperature and 2-week antecedent temperature range explained 40% of trogloxene variability. In the transition zone, trogloxene diversity was inversely related to 2-week antecedent temperature average and 2-week antecedent temperature range, suggesting that species were moving into the transition zone when temperature was most stable. In a CCA of cavernicoles distribution data and environmental variables, 35% of variation in species-specific distributions was attributable to quadrat, and non-significant percentages were explained by date and environmental variables. Differences in assemblage structure among quadrats were largely due to differences between distributions of trogloxenes and cavernicoles, but responses varied among species. Differences are likely due to ecological niche width, physiological constraints, and competition.
In the Velika ledena jama v Paradani, in the karstic blowholes on the slopes of Smrekova draga and in the nearby dolines I measured and interpreted air temperatures and the effect of the summer ...outflow of cold air from them into the surrounding area. In winter, cold air enters the cave, radically cooling the entrance part of the cave, where for this reason there is permanent cave ice. The summertime circulation is reversed: emerging from the inner part of cave, which has an average temperature of around 4° C, is air which only when it transits through the sub-cooled entrance part is then cooled to around 1° C. This air comes to the surface and in the hollow at the cave entrance maintains a distinct thermal inversion during the warm part of the year. There is a similar air circulation and similar development of annual temperatures observed at the vents, where cave air emerges through rubble spread over cave entrances on slopes or at the bottom of dolines. The stable summer air temperatures of around 1° C in the vents where I conducted measurements indicate that underneath them there is also permafrost or sub-cooled rock and permanent ice. This is created and preserved, just like in the caves, due to the advection of cold air in winter. In Trnovski gozd, such karstic permafrost is found at an altitude of 1,100 m above sea level. The outflow of cold air from the vents in the summer, just like inside the cave, causes a distinct thermal inversion in dolines on the surface.
Cave air temperature was measured at six locations in Lehman Caves (USA) for one year at hourly intervals. Lehman is a show cave in a national park, treasured for its geological and biological ...resources. The two monitoring locations that are off of the tour route and, also, relatively distant from the cave’s entrances displayed nearly constant air temperature during the year. The other four sites, along the tour route, show daily temperature variation as well as annual fluctuation. After visitation levels decreased in the autumn, cave temperatures lagged but eventually reached an equilibrium which demonstrates recovery in the quiet winter. The mean annual air temperature inside the Lehman Caves is significantly higher than outside (1.9 °C; 20%) which points to an anthropogenic impact. A first-order analysis indicates that anthropogenic energy consumption in the Lehman Caves—which contributes to temperature rise—is about evenly divided between lighting and human presence. The study demonstrates that cave lighting and visitation levels have important implications for responsible management of this geoheritage site.
Monitoring of air temperature takes place at five locations in two cave systems. At monitoring location Velika gora (Postojna 1), mean air temperature for the time period 2009–2010 was 11.10 °C. Of ...three monitoring locations Velika gora is situated at the highest absolute height. Mean air temperature in the same period was 10.66 °C in the central part of the Lepe jame cave (Postojna 3) and 10.30 °C in the side passage (Postojna 2). Temperature difference between outside and cave temperature is the highest at Postojna 2 monitoring location, due to the inflow of the air currents from the unknown parts, especially in winter time. Manual temperature measurements (2004–2010) exhibit slight increase of air temperature at Postojna 1 and Postojna 2 monitoring sites. In the Predjama cave system, the air temperature in Velika dvorana is much more stable than in Konjski hlev passage, which is more subject to external influences.
The results of one year's monitoring in Srednja Bijambarska Cave (Bosnia and Herzegovina) are presented and discussed. Temporal variations of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration are controlled by ...the switching between two ventilation regimes driven by outside temperature changes. A regression model with a simple perfectly mixed volume applied to a cave sector (“Music hall”) resulted in an estimate of ventilation rates between 0.02 h⁻¹ and 0.54 h⁻¹. Carbon dioxide input per plan surface unit is estimated by the model at around 50 x 10⁻⁶ mh⁻¹ during the winter season and up to more than 1000 x 10⁻⁶ mh⁻¹ during the first temperature falls at the end of summer (0.62 μmoles m⁻² s⁻¹ and 12.40 μmoles m⁻² s⁻¹ for normal conditions respectively). These values have been found to be related to the cave ventilation rate and dependent on the availability of CO₂ in the surrounding environment. For airflow close to zero the values of CO₂ input per plan surface have a range in the order of magnitude of a few units x 10⁻⁶ mh⁻¹. Based on two experiments, the anthropogenic contribution from cave visitors has been calculated, at between 0.35 lCO₂ min⁻¹ person⁻¹ and 0.45 lCO₂min⁻¹person⁻¹.
Drimeotus viehmanni ( Coleoptera, Leiodidae) is abundant in the cave Peştera cu Apă din Valea Leşului (Western Carpathians) and was chosen for a mark-release-resight experiment. The aims of the ...experiment were to estimate the size of the population and to analyze the dispersal patterns inside the cave, for conservation purposes. During the three years’ study, the observed abundance of Drimeotus viehmanni was significantly higher in summer compared to the winter season. The seasonal dynamics can not be explained by climate features such as temperature and air relative humidity which had low or no variation during all seasons. Few marked beetles were re-seen during the mark-resight experiment proving the existence of an important cave/subterranean population, which was estimated between 5, 084 and 533, 033 individuals. The marked individuals moved between neighbouring patches on a distance of 10 m over the same amount of time as on distances longer than 200 m. Dispersal inside the cave occurs during the winter months, which indicates non-continuous behaviour triggered by environmental features and involving only a negligible part of the population in the studied cave.
Ojo de la Reina is the first and the smallest cave intersected at the -290 level in the Naica Mine (Mexico), therefore it was the firstcavity in which the lowering of temperature induced by mine ...ventilation caused condensation over crystals’ surface since 2005. Theconsequent dissolution of the gypsum crystals and subsequent condensed water evaporation lead to the deposition of several newminerals, among which some highly soluble Mg/Na compounds (bloedite, epsomite, halite, hexahydrite, kieserite, starkeyite). Thesingle available source of Mg and Na ions in this minerogenetic environment is represented by the huge fluid inclusions widespreadwithin the crystals. The condensation occurs mainly along the widened principal exfoliation (010) planes, and allows to an easy andfast opening of the fluid inclusions that consequently drip Mg-rich fluids stored inside them. Finally the evaporation of the relativelysmall volumes of involved water allows to the development of the high soluble Mg and Na compounds.
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