Karst Science Day Symposium 2024
"Emil Racovita" Institute of Speolology and Department of Biological Sciences of the Romanian Academy
Symposium information
- Category: Karst science
- Organizer: ISER Bucharest
- Symposium date: 14 November, 2024
- Symposium URL: www.ksd.iser.ro
- Program: Read online
KSD Journal
ISSN-L 2972-1261
ISSN 2972-127x
DOI: 10.70655/KSD.2024
Epigean-Hypogean Continuum concept
- Authors:
- Octavian Pacioglu, Alexandru Amărioarei, J. Iwan Jones
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Subterranean streams represent unique heterotrophic ecosystems, usually supported by organicmatter imported fromthe surface. Traditionally, the biological communities from subterranean streams were characterized as simple associations, with low diversity and species abundance, comprising mostly aquatic invertebrates connected by few trophic links compared with those of the surface. However, these features have not yet been described in the wider context of fluxes of energy and nutrients through food webs along a gradual switch from autotrophy (dominated by photosynthesis) towards heterotrophy (dominated by detritus) following the surface−subterranean continuum. Combining the most recent predictions of Ecological Stoichiometry and theMetabolic Theory of Ecology, the Epigean-Hypogean Continuum concept (Pacioglu et al., 2021) provides a theoretical framework aiming to explain the patterns observed along the surface−subterranean continuum in streams.
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Assessment of biological diversity of caves and man-made subterranean habitats
- Authors:
- Andreea Mîrleneanu, ¸Stefan Cătălin Baba, Robert Opran, Ioana Nae, Augustin Nae, Eugen Nițu, Andrei Giurginca, Raluca Ioana Băncilă, Rodica Plăiașu
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- Biodiversity is globally in crisis and the subterranean species are likely to be particularly affected (Mammola et al., 2019; Boulton, 2020). Habitats such as caves,mines and railway tunnels share similarities with regards to their environmental conditions, such as food scarcity, high relative humidity, thermal stability, and lack of light (Keith et al., 2020).
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Karst springs - windows to the groundwater ecosystems health
- Authors:
- Alexandra Olaru, Orest Sambor, Daniela Borda, Ruxandra Bucur, Aurel Perșoiu, Constantin Marin, Alin Tudorache, Nicolae Scrob, Sanda Iepure
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- Karst aquifers are important sources of drinking water, however their characteristicsmake them highly vulnerable to the exponential increase of anthropogenic pressure (Onac & van Beynen, 2021). These aquifers consist of an interconnected network of pores, issures, fractures, and conduits with high permeability.
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Molecular phylogeny of endemic subterranean species of the genus Trichoniscus (Isopoda: Oniscidea) from North-Western Oltenia
- Authors:
- Robert Opran, Andrei Giurginca, Andrei Ștefan, Alexandra Hillebrand-Voiculescu
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- The genus Trichoniscus (Isopoda: Oniscidea) consists of 103 different species, according to Encyclopedia of Life (2024), spreading over the entirety of the European continent and parts of North America. Most of the species in this genus live in the upper layers of the soil, while some species are subterranean, living in caves and anthropic underground cavities, such as mines and tunnels.
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Beyond the surface: Evolutionary insights into Thiothrix symbiosis across extreme habitats
- Authors:
- Claire A. Chauveau, Filip P. Boancă, Serban Sarbu, Sanda Iepure, Jean-François Flot
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- Symbiotic relationships are frequent in extreme environments characterized by hydrogen sulfide and low oxygen levels (such as sulfidic caves and hydrothermal vents). A variety of invertebrates living in sulfide-rich marine habitats display physiological adaptations to such environments, some of which involve microbial symbionts (Anderson et al., 1987;Wilmot & Vetter, 1990; Cavanaugh et al., 2006; Dubilier et al., 2008; Tokuda et al., 2008; Petersen et al., 2010; Pakes et al., 2014; Sun et al., 2022). Compared to hydrothermal vents, sulfidic caves
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Niche specialisation and aerobic trace gas utilising microbes in Movile Cave
- Authors:
- Alexander Allenby, Sadish Oumabady, Mark Cunningham, Alexandra Hillebrand-Voiculescu, Jean-Christophe Comte, Rory Doherty, Deepak Kumaresan
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- The isolation of cave ecosystems from dynamic surface environments gives them relatively stable conditions, allowing underlying features of the cave, such as geochemistry, hydrology and microbial biogeochemical cycling to be the driving influences on the composition of microbial niches within cave ecosystems. The transfer of gases, either geological or biogenic, is of particular importance in these subterranean ecosystems, as they represent not only a source of oxygen but also a major source of carbon and energy.
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Complementary approach embedding conventional culture-based and proteomic tools for deciphering the microfungal diversity of Isverna Cave ecosystem
- Authors:
- Georgiana-Alexandra Grigore, Emilia Andreea Tănase, Andreea Șocherel, Virgil Drăgușin, Roua Gabriela Popescu, George Cătălin Marinescu, Elena-Cristina Găitănaru, Mariana Carmen Chifiriuc
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- The unlighted and oligotrophic caveworld contains a multitude of microorganisms that inhabit various surroundings and substrates, from air to water, from plant remains to calcite. Among them, fungal species are ubiquitous colonizers of any niche offered by this scarce environment.
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Stories written on teeth: High-resolution analysis of dietary traits in extant and extinct ungulates
- Authors:
- Florent Rivals
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- Dental mesowear and microwear analyses are among the most informative tools for reconstructing the diets of extant and extinct vertebrates, offering a window into the dietary behaviors and environmental interactions that shaped evolutionary history. Mesowear nalysis captures the gross wear patterns on tooth surfaces, which form over longer periods−typically months to years−and provide insights into the cumulative dietary habits of a species.
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Taxonomic assignment of fox remains from La Adam Cave (Constanța County) and Stoieni Cave (Mehedinți County), using upper dentition morphology and morphometry
- Authors:
- Mihai Caminschi, Virgil Drăgușin, Ștefan Vasile
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- The genus Vulpes is represented in the Upper Pleistocene deposits from Europe by fossil remains belonging to three taxa: Vulpes lagopus (arctic fox), Vulpes corsac (corsac fox), and Vulpes vulpes (red fox) (Kurtén, 2007). Following the excavations carried out in the late 1950s, the Upper Pleistocene fossil-bearing sediments from La Adam Cave (southeastern Romania) yielded specimens belonging to all of the above-mentioned species (Dumitrescu et al., 1963; Dumitresco et al., 1965).
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New data on the Late Pleistocene small mammal assemblages from Abri 122 archeological site, Vârghiș Gorges, Perșani Mountains
- Authors:
- Elena Dihoiu, Ștefan Vasile, Marian Cosac, George Murătoreanu, Vlăduț-Andrei Georgescu, Florin Danciu
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- Spread over an area of 56m2, the Vârghiș Gorges include more than 124 caves that are located on four levels of karstification, formed during the Quaternary period, starting with the Middle Pleistocene (Cosac et al., 2018; Cosac, 2023). Considered by Cosac et al. (2021) as one of themost easily accessible and visible caves, Abri 122 is located on the right side of the slope in the terminal (southern) area of the Vârghiș Gorges, 625m above sea level and about 30m above the level of the Vârghiș stream.
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Correlations between age, sex, and short-term diet in MIS 3 cave bear populations from Romanian Carpathians and the northern Moldavian uplands during predormancy
- Authors:
- Paulo Duñó-Iglesias, Marius Robu, Florent Rivals
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- The Late Pleistocene cave bear (sensu lato U. spelaeus) populations fromthe Romanian Carpathians have displayed a flexible omnivorous diet suggested by a wide range of δ15N values (Richards et al., 2008; Robu, 2015; Robu et al., 2018) and further supported by dental microwear analyses (Duñó-Iglesias et al., 2024a).
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Hydroclimatic Inferences Using Speleothem Trace element, Stable Isotope, and U- Series Proxies from the SISALv3 Speleothem Database
- Authors:
- Ezgi Ünal-Imer, Monika Markowska, Sophie Warken, Andrea Borsato, Andrea Columbu, Micheline Campbell, Dániel Erdélyi, Jens Fohlmeister, Nathalie Goodkin, István Gábor Hatvani, Nikita Kaushal, Zoltán Kern, Ashley N. Martin, Carol V. Tadros, Pauline Treble
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- Speleothems are calcium carbonate deposits formed by the degassing of high pCO2 groundwaters typically found in karstic caves. They are a globally distributed geological archive that store information of climate and environmental changes at the time of their formation in multiple proxies, and crucially, provide excellent age control through uranium- thorium dating methods going back to 500,000+ years at seasonal to multi-decadal resolutions.
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Preliminary results of the analysis of allochthonous clastic sediments in Tatra caves inferred from scanning electron microscopy: implication in depositional processes and provenance
- Authors:
- Dawid Siemek, Barbara Woronko, Jacek Szczygieł
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- The record of Early-Mid Pleistocene glaciations is unclear, and in the mountains, it is only vestigially preserved (Hughes, 2022)Alternatively, remnants of glacial deposits could be found in caves, considered one of the best archives of paleoclimate, paleogeographic, tectonic, and hydrogeological data because they preserve sediments for a long time (White, 2007)
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Exploring the speleothem climate and environmental archives of the world using the SISAL webApp
- Authors:
- István Gábor Hatvani, Zoltán Kern, Péter Tanos, Micah Wilhelm, Franziska Lechleitner, Nikita Kaushal
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- The SISAL webApp (Hatvani et al., 2024) is a web-based tool designed to query the Speleothem Isotope Synthesis and AnaLysis (SISAL) database (Comas-Bru et al., 2017). This software provides an intuitive front-end interface for exploring the SISAL database, while also offering the accompanying SQL code as a learning resource (Fig. 1).
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The Sub-BioMon Project: Developing and testing approaches to monitor subterranean biodiversity in karst
- Authors:
- Maja Zagmajster, Gergely Balázs, Anna Biró, Ruxandra Bucur, Olivier Collard, Teo Delić, Anja Kos, Jean-François Flot, Cătălina Haidău, Gábor Herczeg, Sanda Iepure, Stéphanie Lippert, Enrico Lunghi, Ștefan Măntoiu, Oana Teodora Moldovan, Orest Sambor, Cristian Sitar, Fabio Stoch, Valerija Zakšek, Dieter Weber, Alexander Weigand, Hannah Weigand
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- The subterranean karst environment (terrestrial, semi-aquatic and aquatic components) is unique containing a high diversity of species with specific morphologic, physiologic, and metabolic adaptations (Moldovan et al., 2018). The fragile nature of this environment poses significant challenges when dealing with biodiversity safeguarding and its habitats protection against increasing threats of human activities (Mammola et al., 2019).
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