Superficial subterranean habitats – gateway to the subterranean realm?

Alternative Title

Cave and Karst Science

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Publication Date

1-1-2008

Volume Number

35

Issue Number

1

Abstract

Superficial subterranean habitats (SSHs) include small drainages that emerge as seeps (hypotelminorheic), small cavities in the uppermost part of karstified rock (epikarst), talus slopes (milieu souterrain superficiel), and cracks and shallow tubes in lava. They share only two important features with better known subterranean habitats, especially caves – they are aphotic environments and they harbour a fauna modified for subterranean life, including species that are eyeless and without pigment. The occupants and environmental characteristics of these habitats are reviewed. The presence of troglomorphic species in SSHs suggests that the absence of light is the primary selective factor in the evolution of the distinctive morphology of cave animals, and that species in SSHs might have given rise to species in deeper subterranean habitats such as caves.

Document Type

Article

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