A Chemoautotrophically Based Cave Ecosystem Sarbu, Serban M.; Kane, Thomas C.; Kinkle, Brian K.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
06/1996, Letnik:
272, Številka:
5270
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Microbial mats discovered in a ground-water ecosystem in southern Romania contain chemoautotrophic bacteria that fix inorganic carbon, using hydrogen sulfide as an energy source. Analysis of stable ...carbon and nitrogen isotopes showed that this chemoautotrophic production is the food base for 48 species of cave-adapted terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, 33 of which are endemic to this ecosystem. This is the only cave ecosystem known to be supported by in situ autotrophic production, and it contains the only terrestrial community known to be chemoautotrophically based.
This bilingual scientific monograph with many illustrations presents the Velika Pasica cave, located on the outskirts of the Gornji Ig village on the Krim massif, around 20 km south of Ljubljana, ...Slovenia. The book presents ecological, taxonomical and biodiversity studies, as well as morphological and historical facts referring to the cave. The cave is small for Slovenian standards, as it is only 105 metres long. On the basis of the specimens collected in the cave, 13 new species from terrestrial and aquatic habitats have been described so far. A considerable number, even on the global scale. The cave was first renowned for the rare cave-dwelling beetles, snails as well as other species. In 2000, a rich community of aquatic animals was discovered, which were not expected to be present there. Since 2006, there have been regular measurements of ecological parameters as well as sampling of fauna from four permanent drips. Fauna was washed-out from a thin layer of dolomite, from which the cave roof consists. The measurements include water and air temperature as well as discharge, measured in one hour intervals. Furthermore, 88 analyses of drip water and an equal number of fauna sampling were conducted. The measurements in the cave were being conducted simultaneously with the measurements of the meteorological parameters on the surface, in the immediate vicinity of the cave entrance.
Microbial Life of Cave Systems Summers Engel, Annette; Jones, Daniel; Lavoie, Kathleen ...
2015, 2015-10-16, Letnik:
3
eBook
The earth's subsurface contains abundant and active microbial biomass, living in water, occupying pore space, and colonizing mineral and rock surfaces. Caves are one type of subsurface habitat, being ...natural, solutionally- or collapse-enlarged openings in rock. Within the past 30 years, there has been an increase in the number of microbiology studies from cave environments to understand cave ecology, cave geology, and even the origins of life. By emphasizing the microbial life of caves, and the ecological processes and geological consequences attributed to microbes, this book provides the first authoritative and comprehensive account of the microbial life of caves for students, professionals, and general readers.
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