Karst Dolines Support Highly Diversified Soil Collembola Communities—Possible Refugia in a Warming Climate?

Karst dolines, as geomorphologically diverse natural landforms, usually exhibit more or less steep microclimatic gradients that provide a mosaic of microhabitat conditions, resulting in high diversity soil biota with numerous rare endemic and/or relict species occupying these habitats. In this study, we investigated the spatial patterns Collembola abundance, richness, community structure and distribution functional groups at topographically microclimatically different sites across three open (unforested) karst dolines north-south direction Slovak Karst, Slovakia. We also assessed refugial capacity for collembolan communities. The Friedman ANOVA test confirmed significant differences mean temperatures between all selected. conditions within supported higher (species numbers, indices) compared on plateau showed potential to facilitate persistence some are absent very surrounding landscape. circular morphology comparable size, topography microclimate had stronger effect composition than organic carbon. Shallow solution provided microhabitats various relation character individual sites. It was observed such landforms can function refugia cold-adapted through accumulation colder air buffering local against ambient mesoclimate, thus underlying necessity adequate attention terms conservation phenomena.