{"id":138535,"date":"2025-04-22T09:45:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T09:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/?page_id=138535"},"modified":"2026-11-01T16:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T16:01:37","slug":"cave-biology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/?page_id=138535&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Cave biology\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"138535\" class=\"elementor elementor-138535\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ce3f1c0 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"ce3f1c0\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4e97dc7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4e97dc7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>After the publication of <strong><em>Essai sur les problemes biospeologiques<\/em><\/strong> in 1907, the first important work dedicated to biospeleology in the world, and the initiation of an international research program <em>&#8220;Biospeologica&#8221;<\/em> created to study cave fauna, systematic researches in Romania advanced on both terrestrial and aquatic groups using both traditional taxonomy and new methods.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ba8ed5c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"ba8ed5c\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-81ded2c elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"81ded2c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Our investigations on cave fauna are focused on:<\/strong><\/p><ul><li>Systematics and taxonomy of crustaceans (copepods, amphipods)<\/li><li>Biodiversity, dynamics, adaptations and evolutions of subterranean species to subterranean realm<\/li><li>Cave fauna monitoring and conservation<\/li><li>Palaeocology using fossil ostracods from cave sediments to reconstruct the paleoenvironment at the regional scale<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1caa4f6 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"1caa4f6\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b600646 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"b600646\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Developing and testing approaches to monitor subterranean biodiversity in karst (Sub-BioMon)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-273b674 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"273b674\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-639eb19 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"639eb19\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0bb9875 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"0bb9875\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Closani-Cave_spider-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-139749\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Closani-Cave_spider-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Closani-Cave_spider-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Closani-Cave_spider-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Closani-Cave_spider-255x191.jpg 255w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Closani-Cave_spider.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e5cfcf4 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"e5cfcf4\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-85f72e0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"85f72e0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sub-biomon-ro.github.io\/sub-biomon-ro-project\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-138738 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SubBioMon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"102\" height=\"67\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SubBioMon.jpg 266w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SubBioMon-263x175.jpg 263w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SubBioMon-255x168.jpg 255w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 102px) 100vw, 102px\" \/><\/a>Subterranean karst ecosystems have high species diversity with specialized physiological and morphological adaptations. Due to the environment&#8217;s complexity and heterogeneity, along with species identification challenges (including the lack of taxonomists), estimating biodiversity and monitoring of species remain difficult. Within <a style=\"background-color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/sub-biomon-ro.github.io\/sub-biomon-ro-project\/\">Sub-BioMon<\/a> (2024-2027) an ERANET project (no. 26\/2024) of the Biodiversa+ call we aim to provide a standardized method and protocol for monitoring subterranean biodiversity. We monitor the biodiversity of cave fauna with focus on groundwater crustaceans, spiders, and beetles using standardized methods and novel techniques for species identifications such is eDNA. Lead by the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) the project unify cave biologists from six European countries: Slovenia, Italy, Romania, Luxembourg, Hungary and Belgium.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fdfbc22 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"fdfbc22\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ee331b5 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"ee331b5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Chasing ice caves fauna<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7c9b812 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"7c9b812\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7393900 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"7393900\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9d447d2 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"9d447d2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-1024x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-139610\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-263x263.jpg 263w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-526x526.jpg 526w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples-255x255.jpg 255w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Scarisoara-eDNA-samples.jpg 1070w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bf3b656 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"bf3b656\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c295fa1 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c295fa1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Ice caves present a particularly challenging environment for the existence of life forms, where the temperature is constantly bellow 0\u00b0. They present a mosaic of microhabitats commonly found in caves, i.e., fissures, cracks, microfissures, pools (temporary or permanent), and subterranean rivers and lakes but also have periglacial sectors, with various ice formations (ice walls, ice stalagmites, and floor ice) suitable for the life of particular fauna. Usually they are glacial relicts and poses specific physiology to cope with low temperature. An ongoing collaborative project together with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iser.ro\/ro\/comp-cluj.html\">Institute of Speleology Emil Racovita (Cluj Branch)<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parcapuseni.ro\/\">Apuseni Natural Park<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upjs.sk\/en\/PF\/employee\/lubomir.kovac\/\">Pavol and Jozef \u0160af\u00e1rik University (Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia) <\/a>is focused on biotic communities and glacial relicts from ice caves.<\/p><p>The key focus areas include the assessment of rare, specialized, and endemic species and physiological adaptations to survive at low temperatures.\u00a0Combining the speleological, microclimate and biospeleological studies and the regional management of the Apuseni Natural Park, we aim to develop a network of ice caves monitoring program that include iconic sites of Romania.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-03d5e52 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"03d5e52\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-47f5ff4 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"47f5ff4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Cave fauna of Romania<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a66e605 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"a66e605\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7ec2207 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"7ec2207\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e407e52 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"e407e52\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"477\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Marek-foto_web.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-139687\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Marek-foto_web.jpg 477w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Marek-foto_web-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Marek-foto_web-255x385.jpg 255w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 477px) 100vw, 477px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-aa2ef2a e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"aa2ef2a\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-20ec5cb elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"20ec5cb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Romania has one of the richest and most unique subterranean faunas in southeastern Europe. Cave ecosystems feature hundreds of specialized cave-adapted species, <em>troglobionts<\/em> referred to terrestrial species and <em>stygobionts<\/em> to aquatic ones. Karst rocks in Romania cover at least 5500 km<sup>2<\/sup> representing cca. 2.3% of the total area of the country (238,397 km2). Romania have catalogued more than 12.000 of caves (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.speologie.org\">www.speologie.org<\/a>) distributed within 5 main karst areas: Apuseni (in northwest Romania), Banat (in southwest), Mehedinti (southern Romanian Carptahians) and Dobrogea (in southeast, close to the Black Sea). Scattered karst is also present in the Eastern Carpathians and across the entire Carpathian chain. Several strict subterranean dwellers are registered across caves hosting roughly more than 300 troglobites and stygobite species.<\/p><p><strong>CaveFauna_RO<\/strong>\u00a0is an integrative database on distribution of <strong>troglobite and stygobite species<\/strong> in subterranean habitats across Romanian caves.\u00a0 The data base will include: spatially defined localities, species list and distribution across Romanian caves of coleopteran (cca. 160 troglobites), spiders and aquatic crustaceans (cca. 130 stygobitic copepods, amphipods, ostracods, syncarids and isopods); a collection of DNA sequences for each species tracked via established voucher coding systems (GeneBank, Bold). The database of currently more than 800 records are gathered from published literature, reports (grey literature), as well as field surveys conducted in Romania by several researchers across various projects after 2000. Database will be available for registered users via an online interface (in work).<\/p><p><strong>CaveFauna_RO database<\/strong> will provide a valuable tool for achieving a deeper understanding of subterranean biodiversity and of cave fauna protection and conservation in Romania. The database is developed partially within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sub-biomon.net\/\">SubBioMon<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifewatchitaly.eu\/iniziative\/stygofauna-mundi\/\">Stygofauna Mundi<\/a> projects.<\/p><p>Short status of the current database:<\/p><ul><li><strong>Geographical coverage<\/strong>: Romania<\/li><li><strong>Number of records<\/strong>: 837<\/li><li><strong>Number of taxa<\/strong>: 321<\/li><li><strong>Number of DNA sequences<\/strong>: 34.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the publication of Essai sur les problemes biospeologiques in 1907, the first important work dedicated to biospeleology in the world, and the initiation of an international research program &#8220;Biospeologica&#8221; created to study cave fauna, systematic researches in Romania advanced on both terrestrial and aquatic groups using both traditional taxonomy and new methods. Our investigations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-138535","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138535"}],"version-history":[{"count":108,"href":"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139752,"href":"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/138535\/revisions\/139752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biogeo.ubbcluj.ro\/pages\/taxonomie\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}