Troglobites: The Caves’ Permanent Dwellers
Have you been to a cave and saw some weird looking albino spiders, aside from the expected bats? Hey, don’t step on them, ease your mind, they will not bite you and make you into some spider humanoid. They are important as you are, them troglobites: the caves’ permanent dwellers.
Cave-dwelling organisms that spend their entire lives underground are called troglobites [1]. They are usually small and are much adapted to a permanent life inside the cave [2]. This is a stak contrast to trogloxenes who goes out to search for foods.
Troglobites include fish, salamanders, crustaceans, insects, and arachnids [1]. Take note that they live permanently inside the cave. That is the reason why some spiders, bats and snakes are not classified as troglobites.
Most troglobites cannot see and are ‘albino’ (with no skin pigment), and their range is limited to certain caves or regions.
Troglobites cannot live outside a cave, and their survival may be threatened if the cave environment is damaged or altered. Water pollution, visitor traffic, trash, flooding, and a change in air patterns and temperature can disturb or damage a cave’s fragile food web and ecosystem. Once destroyed, there is little chance that these ecosystems could regenerate, and unique troglobites would be gone forever [1].
It is everyone’s responsibility then to practice the leave-no-trace principles when approaching and doing any activity in any subterranean ecosystem.
References
[1] National Speleological Society, 2016. A Guide To Responsible Caving. 5th ed. Huntsville, AL: National Speleological Society, p.5.
[2] King, H., n.d. Troglobites: Animals That Live In A Cave. [online] Geology.com. Available at: <https://geology.com/stories/13/troglobites/> [Accessed 30 May 2020].
[3] David Ashley (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) / Public domain, 2008. Antrobia Culveri. [image] Available at: <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Antrobia_culveri.jpg> [Accessed 30 May 2020].
[4] Hans, H. / CC BY-SA 4.0, 2005. Eurydice Pulchra Leach, 1815. [image] Available at: <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Eurydice_pulchra.jpg> [Accessed 30 May 2020].
[5] W.E. Sanford, J.S. Caine, D.A. Wilcox, H.C. McWreath, and J.R. Nicholas: Research Opportunities in Interdisciplinary Ground-Water Science in the U.S. Geological Survey. USGS, Circular 1293.
