2000, Hotspots of subterranean biodiversity in caves and wells

We documented 18 caves and two karst wells that have 20 or more stygobites and troglobites. Crustacea dominated the aquatic fauna. Taxonomic composition of the terrestrial fauna varied, but Arachnida and Insecta together usually dominated. Geographically, the sites were concentrated in the Dinaric Karst (6 caves). Sites tended to have high primary productivity or rich organic input from the surface, be large caves, or have permanent groundwater (phreatic water). Over the past few years, there has been a growing aware-ness and concern with biodiversity worldwide. Books and monographs with a focus on biodiversity have appeared (e.g., Wilson 1992; Master et al. 1998) and a rapidly increasing amount of information is available about patterns of biodiver-sity for many groups of organisms. The same can be said for the fauna of caves and other subterranean habitats. Tabulations and often lists of cave and subsurface-limited species are avail-able for many countries in Stygofauna Mundi (Botosaneanu 1986) and in the multi-volume Encyclopaedia Biospeologic