S1.1 Aerobic caves

S1. Subterranean lithic biome

S1

Profile summary

Full profile at https://global-ecosystems.org/explore/groups/S1.1

Brief description

These air-filled voids beneath the ground are simple low-productivity ecosystems limited by an absence of solar energy, except around their openings to the surface. Food chains consequently lack plants and herbivores. Microbes in biofilms are the dominant life forms, but some caves have invertebrate detritivore and predators, or temporary vertebrate inhabitants. Their limited energy comes from organic material imported by seepage or animal movements, and bacteria that synthesise chemical energy from rocks. They are found on all major land masses, most commonly in carbonate rocks or lava tubes.

Key features

Dark dry or humid geological cavities with microbial chemoautotrophs, detrivores, decomposers, endemic invertebrates & no photoautotrophs.

Overview of distribution

Scattered globally throughout land masses.

Map description

Distributions of Aerobic caves were based on mapped area of carbonate rock outcrop (Williams & Ting Fong 2016). This. provides an upper limit on the area of exposed karst terrain, as not all carbonate rocks are karstified. Lava tubes and other rocks that may contain these ecosystem functional groups are not shown on this indicative map, but are less extensive than those in carbonate rock..

Map code and version: S1.1.web.orig v1.0. DOI

Version history

Profile versions

  • v2.1 (2022-04-06): DA Keith; GC Hose.1
  • v2.01 (NA): NA.
  • v2.0 (2020-06-04): DA Keith; GC Hose.
  • v1.0 (2020-01-20): DA Keith.

Available maps

Read more details about the current map versions here.

  • Indicative Map (code: S1.1.IM.orig, version v1.0)
  • Web navigation (code: S1.1.web.orig, version v1.0)

Read more details about older or alternative versions of maps for this functional group.

References

Main references

References used in the different versions of the profiles.

  • Engel AS (2010) Microbial diversity of cave ecosystems Geomicrobiology: Molecular and environmental perspective (Eds. LL Barton, M Mandl, A Loy), pp219-238. Springer, Dordrecht
  • Gibert J, Deharveng L (2002) Subterranean ecosystems: a truncated functional biodiversity BioScience 52, 473-481 DOI:10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052[0473:seatfb]2.0.co;2

Map references

References used in the different versions of the maps (current and discarded).

  • Williams P, Ting Fong Y (2016) World map of carbonate rock outcrops v3.0 The University of Auckland, Auckland. Webpage

Footnotes

  1. This is the current version available at official site.↩︎