Shallow Subterranean Habitats: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation

Shallow subterranean habitats (SSHs) are areas of habitable space that are less than 10 m in depth from the surface. These range from large areas such as shallow caves and lava tubes, to tiny areas such as cracks in ceilings, or spaces in soil. Whilst being very different in many ways, they are often bound together by shared characteristics of the habitats and their faunas, and their study can help us to understand subterranean habitats in general. This book concentrates on the more typical SSHs of intermediate size (seepage springs, spaces between rocks, cracks in lava etc.), describing the habitats, their fauna, and the ecological and evolutionary questions posed. Similarities and differences between the habitats are considered and discussed in a broader ecological and evolutionary context. The book is mainly aimed at students and researchers in the field of subterranean biology, but will also be of interest to a wider range of ecologists, evolutionary biologists, freshwater biologists, and conservationists. There will also be an audience of environmental professionals.

David C. Culver, Professor, Department of Environmental Science, American University, Washington,Tanja Pipan, Research Advisor, Karst Research Institute ZRC-SAZU, Postojna, Slovenia

David C. Culver received his Ph.D. in 1970 in Biology from Yale University. He is currently Professor of Biology at American University in Washington, DC, with broad research interests in subterranean biology, especially biodiversity, biogeography, and ecosystem function. He has active research projects on U.S. subterranean biodiversity databases, spatial statistical patterns of obligate subterranean animals, the obligate subterranean animals in seeps in the Washington, DC area and Slovenia, diversity and biogeography of epikarst invertebrates in the Appalachians and Slovenia, organic carbon flux in caves, large scale subterranean biodiversity patterns, and regional scale subterranean biodiversity patterns and protection in West Virginia. Culver is Comptroller of the Karst Waters Institute, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an Honorary Life Member of the National Speleological Society.

Tanja Pipan received her Ph.D. in 2003 in Biology from University of Ljubljana. She is currently Research Advisor at the Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU and Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia, with research interests in the ecology, biology, and systematics of the subterranean copepod fauna, especially in the epikarst. Pipan is country coordinator for the Slovenian Long Term Ecological Research program. She received the grant for the most significant young researcher from ZRC SAZU for scientific work in 2003, the 2004 award from the International Society for Subterranean Biology for best presentation at the meeting in Raipur, India and an award in 2005 for best paper at the International Association of Hydrogeology meeting in Kotar, Montenegro. She is biology editor of the International Journal of Speleology.