BACKGROUND Triatoma dimidiata, currently the major Central American vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease, inhabits caves throughout the region. This research investigates the possibility that cave dwelling T. dimidiata might transmit the parasite to humans and links the blood meal sources of cave vectors to cultural practices that differ among locations. METHOD...

BACKGROUND Thermal gradients along changes in elevation in mountainous environments are reflected by different biotas. Although there have been studies of elevation variation in bat assemblages in summer, winter changes in the same gradients remain unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The objective of this study was to document changes in the species composition of bats hibernating in cave...

1. Factors explaining the end of diapause include environmental conditions such as daily photoperiod, temperature and humidity. However, because all these factors are almost constant inside deep caves, they would hardly affect diapause termination in many animal taxa that use such habitats in which to aestivate or hibernate (such as bats and some insects, snakes or frogs). 2. An innate biologic...

The timing of the first entry of humans into North America is still hotly debated within the scientific community. Excavations conducted at Bluefish Caves (Yukon Territory) from 1977 to 1987 yielded a series of radiocarbon dates that led archaeologists to propose that the initial dispersal of human groups into Eastern Beringia (Alaska and the Yukon Territory) occurred during the Last Glacial Ma...

The endemic Puerto Rican boa (Epicrates inornatus) has spent 42 years on the Endangered Species List with little evidence for recovery. One significant impediment to effective conservation planning has been a lack of knowledge of the distribution of genetic variability in the species. It has previously been suggested that boas might best be protected around caves that harbor large populations o...

The prehistory of the Mammoth Cave area has been of interest to archeologists for more than a century because of the remarkable preservation in the dry cave environment. Beginning with the antiquarian search for mummified bodies in the early nineteenth century up to the most modern scientific research, Mammoth Cave has revealed important information about the Native Americans who lived near and...

Procedural Content Generation in Games (PCG) is a thriving field of research and application. Recent presented examples range from levels, stories and race tracks to complete rulesets for games. However, there is not much research to date on procedural 3D modeling of caves, and similar enclosed natural spaces. In this paper, we present a modular pipeline to procedurally generate underground cav...