Stygobitic crustaceans in an anchialine cave with an archeological heritage at Vodeni Rat (Island of Sveti Klement, Hvar, Croatia)

Authors

Alessandro Montanari, Osservatorio Geologico di ColdigiocoFollow
Nicolas Cerveau, Georg-August Universität
Barbara Fiasca, University of L’Aquila
Jean-François Flot, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Diana Galassi, University of L’Aquila
Maurizio Mainiero, Studio Geologico
David McGee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tadeusz Namiotko, University of Gdansk
Stefano Recanatini, Gruppo Speleologico Marchigiano
Fabio Stoch, Université Libre de Bruxelles

Highlights

• Archeologic and archeometric assessments of Vodeni Rat cave
• Assessment of the geology of the Adriatic Carbonate Platform and the Croatian karst
• Geologic and environmental analysis of the Vodeni Rat cave area
• Systematic and ecologic assessments of the stygobitic crustacean fauna in the Vodeni Rat cave
• Timing of colonization and partitioning of crustacean species in the neo-anchialine cave of Vodeni Rat

Abstract

A group of four amphoras found in the anchialine cave of Vodeni Rat in the Croatian island of Sveti Klement, on a rocky ledge at 24 m water depth, indicates that a freshwater source was exploited at the bottom of this karstic pit by islanders and/or passing-by sailors from the late Roman Republican Period to the Early Medieval Period. In other words, prior to the 4^th–7^th century CE, Vodeni Rat was not an anchialine cave but a Pleistocene karstic pit with a freshwater pool at the bottom. Seawater started to infiltrate this cavity via newly opened fissures in the surrounding limestone after the 4^th–7^th century CE, as the archeometric age of the youngest intact amphora found down in the pit suggests. At present, the 29-m-deep water body is stratified, with a saline water layer at the bottom, a freshwater layer at the surface, and a transitional brackish water layer in the middle. Our study of the physical and biological characteristics of the cave water column revealed diversified and highly partitioned populations of stygobitic crustaceans including ostracods, copepods, amphipods, and thermosbaenaceans. Some species known to be exclusively endemic of highly saline habitats were collected from the bottom saline layer, whereas others known to be of freshwater origin were found in the upper water layer. This suggests that the freshwater dwellers were already present in this cave prior to the early medieval event that caused seepage of seawater into this karstic pit.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.50.1.2342

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Recommended Citation

Montanari, Alessandro; Nicolas Cerveau; Barbara Fiasca; Jean-François Flot; Diana Galassi; Maurizio Mainiero; David McGee; Tadeusz Namiotko; Stefano Recanatini; and Fabio Stoch. 2021. Stygobitic crustaceans in an anchialine cave with an archeological heritage at Vodeni Rat (Island of Sveti Klement, Hvar, Croatia). International Journal of Speleology, 50: 1-14.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/ijs/vol50/iss1/1