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The Effect Of Cave Entrances On The Distribution Of Cave-Inhabiting Terrestrial Arthropods, Stewart B. Peck
The Effect Of Cave Entrances On The Distribution Of Cave-Inhabiting Terrestrial Arthropods, Stewart B. Peck
International Journal of Speleology
Populations of cave invertebrates are generally considered to be food-limited. The cave entrance is a major source of food input into the community in the form of decaying organic matter. Thus, the densities of scavenging terrestrial cave invertebrates should be related to the distance from the cave entrance because this represents a measure of food abundance. A test showed this expectation to be true in Crossings Cave, Alabama. A population density peak occurred 10 m inside the cave where the dark zone and detritus infall regions meet. The greatest population peak occurred at 100 m where densities of crickets and …