Lascaux Cave (Montignac, France) contains paintings from the Upper Paleolithic period. Shortly after its discovery in 1940, the cave was seriously disturbed by major destructive interventions. In 1963, the cave was closed due to algal growth on the walls. In 2001, the ceiling, walls and sediments were colonized by the fungus Fusarium solani. Later, black stains, probably of fungal origin, appea...

Previous bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotopic studies of Late Pleistocene European cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) have shown that these bears frequently had low nitrogen isotope values, similar to those of herbivores and indicating either unusual physiology related to hibernation or a herbivorous diet. Isotopic analysis of animal bone from the Peştera cu Oase (Cave with Bones), Romania, show...

Chal Nakhjir (Nakhcheer) is a rare geological phenomenon located on the side of the road connecting Delijan to Naragh in Markazi Province, Iran. This amazing cave was discovered in 1989, and it was registered as a national monument in 2001. The cave was opened to the public in March 2010 (1). It is a limestone cave that is approximately 7 million years old. Parts of the cave, including its inte...

The majority of caves are formed within limestone rock and hence our understanding of cave microbiology comes from carbonate-buffered systems. In this paper, we describe the microbial diversity of Roraima Sur Cave (RSC), an orthoquartzite (SiO4) cave within Roraima Tepui, Venezuela. The cave contains a high level of microbial activity when compared with other cave systems, as determined by an A...

Subterranean biodiversity in Europe is spectacularly rich, with the Western Balkans being home to about 400 cave species, representing the highest number of species per area worldwide [1]. Nonetheless, cave fishes, which are the most commonly found vertebrates in underground habitats [2], have not been described from Europe so far [3]. Here, we report the first European record of a cave fish po...

Lascaux Cave (Montignac, France) contains paintings from the Upper Paleolithic period. Shortly after its discovery in 1940, the cave was seriously disturbed by major destructive interventions. In 1963, the cave was closed due to algal growth on the walls. In 2001, the ceiling, walls and sediments were colonized by the fungus Fusarium solani. Later, black stains, probably of fungal origin, appea...

Detailed surface images of the Moon and Mars reveal hundreds of cave-like openings. These cave-like openings are theorized to be remnants of lava-tubes and their interior maybe in pristine conditions. These locations may have well preserved geological records of the Moon and Mars, including evidence of past water flow and habitability. Exploration of these caves using wheeled rovers remains a d...

The freshwater isopod crustacean Asellus aquaticus has recently been developed as an emerging invertebrate cave model for studying evolutionary and developmental biology. Mostly morphological and genetic differences between cave and surface A. aquaticus populations have been described up to now, while scarce data are available on other aspects, including physiology. The purpose of this study wa...

A study of genetic diversity at microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome b gene was carried out to assess genetic relationships among four Mexican cave (Pachon, Sabinos, Tinaja, Chica) and four surface populations of Astyanax fasciatus (Characidae) from northeast Mexico and the Yucatan. With the exception of Chica, the cave populations were all characterized by extremely...

Ancient DNA studies have revolutionized the study of extinct species and populations, providing insights on phylogeny, phylogeography, admixture and demographic history. However, inferences on behaviour and sociality have been far less frequent. Here, we investigate the complete mitochondrial genomes of extinct Late Pleistocene cave bears and middle Holocene brown bears that each inhabited mult...