The evolutionary forces driving the reduction of eyes and pigmentation in cave-adapted animals are unknown; Darwin famously questioned the role of natural selection in eye loss in cave fishes: "As it is difficult to imagine that eyes, although useless, could be in any way injurious to animals living in darkness, I attribute their loss wholly to disuse"[1]. We studied the genetics of eye and pig...

Obligatory cave species exhibit dramatic trait modifications such as eye reduction, loss of pigmentation and an increase in touch receptors. As molecular studies of cave adaptation have largely concentrated on vertebrate models, it is not yet possible to probe for genetic universalities underlying cave adaptation. We have therefore begun to study the strongly cave-adapted small carrion beetle P...

The hypothesis that caves in the Florida Peninsula are tied to Quaternary sea levels was proposed by hydrogeologists, without data, some 40 years ago. The hypothesis is a version of glacial control of cave levels, which is the logical combination of the water-table theory of speleogenesis and the concept that base level positions the water table. At the USA type example of glacial control of ca...

This paper is the first aero-mycological report from Demänovská Ice Cave. Fungal spores were sampled from the internal and external air of the cave in June, 2014, using the impact method with a microbiological air sampler. Airborne fungi cultured on PDA medium were identified using a combination of classical phenotypic and molecular methods. Altogether, the presence of 18 different fungal spore...

The bacterial diversity in the Su Bentu Cave in Sardinia was investigated by means of 16S rRNA gene-based analysis. This 15 km long cave, carved in Jurassic limestone, hosts a variety of calcite speleothems, and a long succession of subterranean lakes with mixed granite and carbonate sands. The lower level is occasionally flooded by a rising groundwater level, but with only scarce input of orga...

Cover Photo: Cave salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga) are often found in the "twilight zone " area. This zone is near the entrance of the cave where a small amount of natural light still falls. E. lucifuga feed mainly on various insects and spiders. In the fall one might find their eggs in little crevices of rocks that have water/moisture in them or along rimstone pools. This particular specimen was...

In the attempt to understand culture and social behavior of prehistoric populations, findings of personal ornaments are of particular interest. Personal ornaments in their formal expressions (marine shells and snails, river snails, animal teeth, modified animal bones etc.) not only point to an universal idea of decoration and aesthetic sensibility, but may also reveal contact zones and communic...

Cow Cave is a well-known archaeological and palaeontological site in the wall of Chudleigh Gorge, Devon, England. The cave is choked after a short distance with allochthonous sediments and speleothem accumulations. Palaeontological excavations at the cave in 1927 to 1935, and again in 1962 to 1963, yielded a rich Pleistocene fauna and several stone tools. However, in the absence of radiometric ...