The Biology of Caves and Other Subterranean Habitats
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Author(s): D. Culver and T. Pipan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199219933
Format: softback
254pp
Price: £29.95
Review Date: 13 March 2009
Review: In the last 25 years the scope of speliobiology has expanded from ‘biology of the caves’ to include subterranean habitats whose inhabitants include blind, depigmented species that have compensatory increases in other sensory structures. This book begins by reviewing the different subterranean environments, looking at energy sources in the absence of photosynthesis, and describing the main inhabitants of these underground systems. The following chapters focus on specific areas of research: Biotic interactions and community structure; Adaptations to subterranean life; Colonisation and speciation in subterranean environments; Geography of subterranean biodiversity; and Some representative subterranean communities.