Cave Biodiversity Speciation and Diversity of Subterranean Fauna

About this book

A deep dive into the evolutionary biology, biogeography, and conservation of the most elusive subterranean creatures in the world.

Far from the austere, sparsely populated ecosystems often conjured in the imagination, caves actually host some of the most mysterious and biodiverse natural systems in the world. Subterranean environments, however, are the least explored terrestrial habitats, contributing to misconceptions about their environment and inhabitants. Edited by cave scientist and conservation ecologist Dr J. Judson Wynne, Cave Biodiversity explores both the evolution and the conservation of subterrestrial-dwelling fauna.

Covering both vertebrates and invertebrates, including molluscs, fishes, amphibians, arthropods, and other troglobionts, this volume brings together ichthyologists, entomologists, ecologists, herpetologists, and conservationists to provide a nuanced picture of life beneath the earth's surface. Broad chapters covering biotic and abiotic factors that influence evolution and support biodiversity precede chapters dedicated to specific taxa, highlighting phylogenetics and morphology, and delving into zoogeography, habitat, ecology, and dispersal mechanisms for each. Considerations for the conservation of these fascinating, often bizarre, and often highly sensitive subterranean creatures are emphasized throughout.

Cave Biodiversity aims to synthesize the principles of subterranean evolutionary biology and diversity through in-depth case studies of some of the most captivating and imperiled subterranean-adapted taxonomic groups in the world. Employing a multidisciplinary approach involving systematics, genetics, ecology, biogeography, evolutionary biology, and conservation science, Cave Biodiversity will be of keen interest to evolutionary biologists, ecologists, conservation biologists, and cave scientists, as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students.

Contents

List of Contributors
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements

1. Influence of the Physical Environment on Terrestrial Cave Diversity, by J. Judson Wynne and Francis G. Howarth
2. Evolutionary Models Influencing Subterranean Speciation, by J. Judson Wynne, Matthew L. Niemiller, and Kenneth James Chapin
3. Biology and Ecology of Subterranean Mollusca, by Jozef Grego
4. The Subterranean Cholevinae of Italy, by Leonardo Latella
5. Cave Trechine (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Radiation and Biogeography in Eastern North America, by Karen A. Ober, Matthew L. Niemiller, and T. Keith Philips
6. Subterranean Colonization and Diversification of Cave-dwelling Salamanders, by Dante Fenolio, Matthew L. Niemiller, Evin T. Carter, Andrew G. Gluesenkamp, and John G. Phillips
7. Diversity, Distribution, and Conservation of Cavefishes in China, by J. Judson Wynne, Yahui Zhao, Andrew G. Gluesenkamp, Dante Fenolio, Daphne Soares, Matthew L. Niemiller, Maria E. Bichuette, and Prosanta Chakrabarty

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Biography

J. Judson Wynne (Flagstaff, Arizona) is an assistant research professor of cave ecology at Northern Arizona University.


Contributors:
- Maria E. Bichuette
- Evin T. Carter
- Prosanta Chakrabarty
- Kenneth James Chapin
- Danté B. Fenolio
- Andrew G. Gluesenkamp
- Jozef Grego
- Francis G. Howarth
- Leonardo Latella
- Matthew L. Niemiller
- Karen A. Ober
- T. Keith Philips
- John G. Phillips
- Stuart Pimm
- Daphne Soares
- J. Judson Wynne
- Yahui Zhao