Diversidad de los insectos, y sus afines, en las cuevas: una visión ecológica para la conservación

Abstract

The main factors responsible of the human interest in caves awakening are presented and, at the same time, the necessity of studying the underground spaces is discussed. The subterranean environment can be very heterogeneous and it is imperative to adopt a basic classification, whereby a scientific approach to the problem must be reached. Life in the subsurface environment gathers some of the very primitive lineages, which are especially noticeable in the animal kingdom, allowing the use of the terms “zoological relic” or “living fossil”. The hypogean fauna (cave sensu lato), regardless of its taxonomic assignment, can be classified into three main categories according to their degree of adaptation to the subterranean life: troglobious, troglophilous and trogloxene kind; and their equivalent for aquatic life species: stygobious, stygophilous and stygoxenous. This is reflected in physiological adaptations and morphological manifestations. Regardless, the cave fauna is very diverse. The main Phyla are the following: Plathelminthes, Nemertina, Gastrotrichia, Mollusca, Annelida, Tardigrada, Arthropoda y Chordata. The emphasis is on the different ecological strategies of the cave species, that is, the troglobious (k strategists) and the troglophiles (r strategists), and the underlying relationship between them to the ecological balance of the subterranean spaces. It is suggested that the study and monitoring of k and r strategists can provide interesting information to determine the health status of a cave. An imbalance in favour of troglophile fauna (r strategists) is usually associated with an increasing input of organic matter in the cavity. The increase of the biological activity in the cavity allows the growth of mould and microbial films. This fact, is not worrying, but from the conservation of paintings and engravings perspectives, because the result of the metabolic processes of these organisms undoubtedly causes deterioration in these expressions of art.