David C. Culver – författare

Encyclopedia of Caves, Third Edition, provides detailed background information to anyone with a serious interest in caves. This includes students, both undergraduate and graduate, in the earth, biological and environmental sciences, and consultants, environmental scientists, land managers and government agency staff whose work requires them to know something about caves and the biota that inhabit them. Caves touch on many scientific interests in geology, climate science, biology, hydrology, archaeology, and paleontology, as well as more popular interests in sport caving and cave exploration. Case studies and descriptions of specific caves selected for their special features and public interest are also included.

This book will appeal to these audiences by providing in-depth essays written by expert authors chosen for their expertise in their assigned subject.

Features 14 new chapters and 13 completely rewritten chapters Contains beautifully illustrated content, with more than 500 color images of cave life and features Provides extensive bibliographies that allow readers to access their subject of interest in greater depth

The second edition of this widely cited textbook continues to provide a concise but comprehensive introduction to cave and subterranean biology, describing this fascinating habitat and its biodiversity. It covers a range of biological processes including ecosystem function, evolution and adaptation, community ecology, biogeography, and conservation. The authors draw on a global range of examples and case studies from both caves and non-cave subterranean habitats. One of the barriers to the study of subterranean biology has been the extraordinarily large number of specialized terms used by researchers; the authors explain these terms clearly and minimize the number that they use. This new edition retains the same 10 chapter structure of the original, but the content has been thoroughly revised and updated throughout to reflect the huge increase in publications concerning subterranean biology over the last decade.

The second edition of this widely cited textbook continues to provide a concise but comprehensive introduction to cave and subterranean biology, describing this fascinating habitat and its biodiversity. It covers a range of biological processes including ecosystem function, evolution and adaptation, community ecology, biogeography, and conservation. The authors draw on a global range of examples and case studies from both caves and non-cave subterranean habitats. One of the barriers to the study of subterranean biology has been the extraordinarily large number of specialized terms used by researchers; the authors explain these terms clearly and minimize the number that they use. This new edition retains the same 10 chapter structure of the original, but the content has been thoroughly revised and updated throughout to reflect the huge increase in publications concerning subterranean biology over the last decade.

Shallow subterranean habitats (SSHs) are areas of habitable space that are less than 10 m in depth from the surface. These range from large areas such as shallow caves and lava tubes, to tiny areas such as cracks in ceilings, or spaces in soil. Whilst being very different in many ways, they are often bound together by shared characteristics of the habitats and their faunas, and their study can help us to understand subterranean habitats in general. This book concentrates on the more typical SSHs of intermediate size (seepage springs, spaces between rocks, cracks in lava etc.), describing the habitats, their fauna, and the ecological and evolutionary questions posed. Similarities and differences between the habitats are considered and discussed in a broader ecological and evolutionary context. The book is mainly aimed at students and researchers in the field of subterranean biology, but will also be of interest to a wider range of ecologists, evolutionary biologists, freshwater biologists, and conservationists. There will also be an audience of environmental professionals.

The harsh environment of caves--dark, damp, sparse of food--is home to a variety of "bizarre" creatures. Biologists, for their part, often treat these delicate, colorless organisms having no eyes, or at least greatly reduced eyes, as mere oddities with little to tell us about a topic as grand as evolution. Focusing on one cave-dwelling crustacean, Gammarus minus, this book shows that, to the contrary, cave life can provide a valuable empirical model for the study of evolution, particularly adaptation. Authors David Culver, Thomas Kane, and Daniel Fong marshal many years of extensive research into the genetics, ecology, morphology, and systematics of Gammarus minus. They explain how these biological factors have been shaped by physical constraints, such as the structure and development of caves and karst terrains, groundwater hydrology, and drainage basin patterns. Their work reveals the advantages of caves for studying natural selection: the highly simplified habitats found underground serve as a natural laboratory for the evolutionary biologist, and the distinctive morphological features of cave fauna provide a wealth of data on evolutionary history and natural selection. A detailed evolutionary study of a single organism in a particular environment, this book advances Gammarus minus as a paradigm for cave colonization and adaptation, and as a general case study of the role of natural selection and adaptation in evolution.

This book reveals the science and beauty of Mammoth Cave, the world's longest cave, which has played an important role in the natural sciences.