Webpage
01.
of 4. for Project Information
This
Webpage last revised on 23 June 2016.
More
information to follow.
.
Proteus
Project Co-ordinator Groups :
Speleološko
društvo "Zelena Brda"
(Trebinje,
RS-BiH)
and
The
Devon Karst Research Society (Plymouth, UK.)
Special
Technical Support by the Project's
Hungarian
Cave Diving & Technical Support Group,
"Caudata
Hungarian Cave Research Group"
(Budapest,
Hungary)
(consisting
of speleologists from several
domestic
Hungarian groups)
Speleobiology
: Hypogean Species Identification :
bio-constructional
drawings.
.
Troglocaris
(Speleocaris) pretneri (Matjašič, 1956).
.
Troglocaris
anophthalmus anophthalmus
(Kollar,.1848).
|
Protecting
the
ENDANGERED
HYPOGEAN BIODIVERSITY
of
Eastern Hercegovina,
Bosnia
& Hercegovina.
.
Cave
ecosystems and other subterranean habitats with their often strange inhabitants
have long been objects of
fascination,
curiosity, and debate. The hypogean (or underground) biodiversity of the
Classical Dinaric Karst
in
Eastern Hercegovina is very rich in terms of quality (species types) and
population numbers.
Although
the level of endemism of species in the Balkans is universally accepted
as being exceptionally high,
the
richness of this hypogean diversity in Eastern Hercegovina has never been
comprehensively documented
before
now, although many have alluded to it in the literature. For many reasons,
it is not an easy place to undertake
such
studies and as a consequence, there is a low level of awareness by the
international community to the prevailing
environmental
situation in Eastern Hercegovina and the worsening effects of human activities
on this unique natural heritage.
The Joint International
"Proteus Project" :
The
"focal
endangered species" of this current long-term
hypogean species and habitat-conservation project is the
amphibious
cave salamander Proteus anguinus,
more
commonly known in the Balkans as.čovječija
ribica.- or the
"human
fish".
It
has this status within the project because it is the most well-known of
the rare endemic species and because it has acquired universal
public
fascination within the Balkans as being something of a myth or legend and
a complete mystery.
We
are using this public perception to our advantage, not only in promoting
the project but in acquiring the co-operation of everyone to help us achieve
the objectives.
The
main strategy of the project is that of the protection of the
species through protection of the natural karst habitat.
If
the natural habitat of this mysterious hypogean species can be protected
and conserved or managed, then the future of all the other associated hypogean
faunal
species
can also be assured.
Let
us now briefly consider the scientific discipline that deals with the study
of hypogean species.
.
SPELEOBIOLOGY
Спелеобиологија
Speleobiologija
This
is the multi-disciplinary science or study of all the life-forms which
live underground in caves or use the cave habitat for
part
of their life-cycle and includes the two main sub-disciplines of speleo-zoology
and speleo-botany.
The
word "speleobiology"
has become corrupted in recent years by those who do not understand the
English
Language
and who have changed it into "biospeleology",
which has an incomprehensible meaning!
Speleobiology
also addresses questions of how such organisms have evolved, the relative
roles of natural
selection
and genetic drift and has engaged the endeavours of speleobiologists for
decades.
Indeed,
these studies continue to inform the more general question of adaptation
and evolution.
However,
interest in subterranean biology is not limited to questions of evolutionary
biology.
Both
the distribution and the apparent ancient age of many subterranean species
continue to be of
significant
interest to biogeographers.
.
Speleobiology
and the "Proteus Project"
However,
for the more practical reasons of karst habitat protection and
conservation-management
for the "Proteus Project"
operating across all of the
geographical
area of Eastern Hercegovina, we are more concerned with the
identification
of individual species, together with their population numbers and geographical
distribution.
We are also dealing with the identification of habitat locations and in
assessing the
spatial
extent and physical disposition of ecosystems together with their quality
and viability as habitats.
Hypogean Ecosystems
in Karstic Limestones :
In
their simplest form, they can be described as any shaft, cave or cave system,
fissure or fissure
system,
with or without water on a temporary or permanent basis.
Although
an individual cave or part of a cave may be described as being an habitat,
cave systems themselves
are usually part of a greater hypogean ecosystem, only part of which can
ever be accessed for investigation.
It
is with assessing the spatial extent of hypogean ecosystems that
we have the greatest challenges. The success
or
otherwise of protecting the hypogean species for the future, as well as
bringing many of them back from the edge of
extinction,
rests solely on our ability to determine the physical extent and quality
problems of these ecosystems, together
with
identifying the actual and potential anthropogenic threats to their ecological
integrity.
From
our own extensive experience in Eastern Hercegovina, we can say that many
of these hypogean ecosystems resemble underwater zoos,
being
richly populated with a diverse range of endemic faunal species. In other
locations which used to be likewise populated, they are now barren
due
to the incidental activities of the Human Race.
The Hypogean Species
:
The
Society has no webpage(s) specifically dedicated either to the science
of speleobiology per se or to its specific application within the
long-term "Proteus Project",
even
though our science programmes in Eastern Hercegovina and the wider Trebišnjica
River Basin are intrinsically linked
with this science !
The
dedicated "Proteus Project"
Webpages do provide an overview of the Project itself but do not attempt
to describe any of the associated endangered hypogean fauna that co-exist
with
Proteus
anguinus in the same ecosystems.
Only
on this specific Webpage, have we attempted to partly overcome this omission,
which has been causing frustration to many of the European visitors to
our Website.
Although
we have now provided illustrations of some of the hypogean species associated
with Proteus anguinus, we cannot reveal details of their specific
habitat locations or about the
associated
karst conduit-aquifer ecosystems.
The
images are provided below and some additional bio-constructional drawings
of the species are provided on the left-side of this Webpage.
The
"Proteus
Project" Webpages can now be accessed via the Link at the bottom
of this Webpage. An expanding speleo-biological
Glossary is also provided in Section 5.
.
Background
Image by the "Proteus Project's" Hungarian Cave Diving & Technical
Support Team,
"Caudata Hungarian Cave Research", 12 August 2006. |
Saving
the Endemic Species
Спасавање
ендемске врсте
Spasavanje
endemske vrste
Lithobius
matulicii (Verhoeff,.1899)
.
.
Marifugia
cavatica (Absolon & Hrabé,.1930)
.
.
Niphargus
balkanicus (Absolon,.1927).
.
.
Niphargus
croaticus (Jurinac,.1887)
.
.
Monolistra
(Pseudomonolistra) hercegoviniensis
(Absolon,.1916)
.
.
Typhloglomeris
caeca (Verhoeff,.1898)
.
.
Antroherpon
apfelbecki (J Muller,.1910)
.
.
Hadesia
vasiceki (J. Muller,.1911)
.
.
.Typhlogammerus
mrazeki (Schaeferna,.1906)
.
.
Dolichopoda
araneiformis (Burmeister,.1838)
.
.
Zospeum
amoenum (Frauenfeld,.1856)
.
.
Spelaeoconcha
paganettii (Sturany,.1901)
[after
Bole.]
|
1a.
TERRESTRIAL SPECIES (Obligate) :
(Below
- left) Lithobius matulicii (Verhoeff,.1899)
- (Photo : Gergely
Balázs,
12 Aug. 2006)
This
species has the local common name of "Zmijin Cesalj" or "Dragon's Comb".
(Below
- middle) Troglophilus
cavicola (Kollar,.1833)
-
(Photo
: Gergely Balázs,
07 Sept. 2008)
The
Cave Cricket, also known as the "Camel Cricket" because of its humped back.
(This could possibly be Dolichopoda azami
(Saulcy).
(Below
- right) (Identification
not confirmed)
- (Photo
: Gergely Balázs,
07 Nov. 2005)
A
cave beetle, possibly Neotrechus sp.
.
 
1b.
TERRESTRIAL SPECIES (Facultative) :
This
range of species are not so threatened as those of the aquatic range of
species or amphibians. They are, none-the-less, exposed to threats caused
by human activities. Such threats are often presented
as
(i)
contamination of the terrestrial environment (waste carbide dumps, discarded
dry batteries) resulting in the chemical poisoning of the environment and
(ii) by the decimation of other species in the food-chain.
(Below
- left) Apfelbeckia lendenfeldii (Verhoeff,1896)-
(Photo
: B. Lewarne, 06 Aug. 2002)
To
ward off predators, it emits an ill-smelling fluid from openings along
the body. We have found this large millipede in many caves, either at positions
far inside the cave or within the entrance zone.
This
is an herbivorous species.
(Below
- right) Trogulus torosus (Simon,1885)-
(Photo
: B. Lewarne, 17 Sept. 2013)
This
"harvestman" is a carnivorous species, living mostly on terrestrial snails.
If disturbed, we have noticed that it behaves as if it is dead, not responding
to any provocation to move on!
.

2.
AMPHIBIA
:
The
only European cave amphibian is the famous salamander Proteus
anguinus anguinus (Laur 1768), which
is endemic to a small area of the Dinaric Karst. From great experience,
we would describe its current
status
as being critically endangered.
There are so very few hypogean ecosystems now remaining across its geographical
range in the Dinaric, which can support this amazing animal.
Pollution
and massive hydrographic changes have reduced the number of viable hypogean
ecosystems. In respect of the Dinaric Karst, the problems with the present
method that various organizations around the
world
use to determine the status of many hypogean species (vulnerable, endangered,
threatened. etc.) is that very little actual field evidence is available
upon which to base their assumptions and also that they tend
not
to use a system which includes the factoring-in of data which correlates
hypogean habitat locations with their parent hypogeanecosystems.
Proteus
anguinus anguinus is an amphibian. Although
more suited to an hypogean aquatic lifestyle, it can and often does venture
out of its preferred aquatic habitat into the adjacent hypogean terrestrial
domain,
when this is both necessary and physically possible for it to do so.
3a.
AQUATIC SPECIES (Obligate) :
The
images below indicate but a small selection of the species which are under
greatest threat, due mainly to either the total destruction of the natural
karst hydrographic regime or its long-term, persistent
chemical
contamination by industrial, agricultural and domestic activities.
The
images also indicate examples of the different types of habitat (niche
habitats) within the hypogean karst conduit-aquifer ecosystem, which ideally
support each of the species.
In
this latter context, we ask you, not only to open your eyes wide and see
what is illustrated, but to understand what you are seeing. Each image
is giving very much information in addition to illustrating the main subject.
The
continual entry of organic pollutants derived from personal care products,
pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals via wastewaters into rivers and
streams is a cause for concern. Little is known about the long-term,
potentially
toxic effects of these increasingly complex mixtures of pollutants.
Crustaceans
are especially sensitive to the presence of organo-phosphorus insecticides
and many pesticides such as Cypermethrin (a
pyrethroid pesticide) and Chlorpyrifos.(an
organo-phosphorus pesticide)
and
the herbicides Isoproturon
and Simazine, commonly
used in agricultural activities, can also decimate populations if contamination
occurs over long periods of time.
Although
cadmium
(Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury
(Hg) can arise from natural sources, major
human-induced sources come from the combustion of fossil fuels, particularly
from power plants.
The
case in hand which affects most of BiH-Eastern Hercegovina is that of the
extraction and processing of low-quality lignite coal in Gatačko Polje
and its subsequent use as a fuel in the Gacko-1 Thermo-electric
Power
Facility.
Some
of the primary indicators which we are using for the presence of long-to-medium-term
poisonous contamination is that of the absence of Proteus
anguinus in those hypogean aquatic habitats
where it was once a
registered
species, together with the presence / absence of cave snail species both
in species diversity and population numbers.
(Below
- left) Marifugia
cavatica (Absolon
& Hrabé,.1930)
-
(Photo
: Dianovszki Tibor, 14 Aug. 2005)
The
only known Polychaete hypogean stygobiotic freshwater tubeworm of the Family
Serpulidae,
(whose
surface equivalent is the marine Keel worm Pomatoceros triqueter, also
known as Serpula triquetra).
Usually
seen in great colonies embedded on the roofs and walls of epi-phreatic
passages; we have regularly encountered lone specimens scattered around
various subterranean ecosystems.
(Below
- right) Congeria
kusceri (Bole)
within a matrix of Marifugia cavatica (Absolon
& Hrabé,.1930)
-
(Photo
: Hungarian Team 09 Aug. 2006)
Congeria
kusceri (Bole) is
a troglodytic 'living fossil' the only known stygobiotic bivalve mollusc
or clam - from a genus thought to have been extinct since the Miocene,
but alive and well in Eastern Hercegovina.
Maintenance
of genetic variability in C. kusceri may result from long-term population
size stability.
This
underground species apparently was buffered from the climatic changes and
resultant population bottlenecks that affected its surface-dwelling relatives
during the Pliocene and Pleistocene Ice Ages.

A
tubeworm inhabits a self-made tube. They live in an encasing tube made
of substances from specialized cells. This tube substance is often based
on calcium carbonate, complex mixtures of proteins and polysaccharides.
Sediments
like fine sand grains or remains of dead shells stick to it and help strengthen
the structure.
The
tubeworms do not leave their tubes willingly. The tube-building worms are
gathered in an informal functional group called a Sedentaria.
.
(Below
- left) Troglocaris
anophthalmus anophthalmus.
(Kollar,.1848)
- (Photo : Gergely
Balázs, 05 Aug. 2007)
A
stygobiotic decapod crustacean.
(Below
- right) Troglocaris
(Speleocaris) pretneri.(Matjašič,.1956)
- (Photo : Gergely
Balázs, 09 Sept. 2008)
An
extremely rare stygobiotic decapod crustacean.
.

.
(Below
- left) Niphargus
balkanicus (Absolon,.1927)
-.(Photo
: Gergely Balázs,
09 Sept. 2008)
Another
stygobiotic amphipod, usually seen browsing the cave sediment and wall
surfaces for food, as evidenced here in the photograph.
They
have a peculiar swimming gait, travelling upside-down in motion, before
flipping over when coming to rest on a surface.
(Below
- right) Niphargus
balkanicus (Absolon,.1927)
with.Troglocaris
anophthalmus anophthalmus.(Kollar,.1848)
-.(Photo
: Gergely Balázs,
05 Aug. 2007)
A
comparatively small mixed-species shoal of stygobiotic crustaceans browsing
for food on a sand and gravel bank in a typical viable hypogean aquatic
ecosystem in Eastern Hercegovina.

.
(Below
- left) Troglocaris
anophthalmus anophthalmus.(Kollar,.1848).-.(Photo
: Gergely Balázs,
09 Aug. 2008)
....
with many Cave Snails.
(Below
- right) Monolistra
hercegoviniensis (Absolon,.1916)-.(Photo
: Gergely Balázs,
04 Aug. 2007)
A
stygobiotic isopod, endemic to Hercegovina, here seen browsing amongst
an area of fine to coarse mud and vegetative organic debris, the latter
material being the darker areas in the cave sediment.
.

.
(Below)
Metohia carinata.(Absolon,1927).-.(Photo
: Lerner Balázs,
09 Sep. 2013)
.
Cave
snails present us with another particularly intractable problem within
the "Proteus Project". We are in desperate need of a speleo-malacologist
to help us identify the very diverse range of species that
we
are finding. This is a very specialist area of speleobiology and although
we are making some progress with species identification, we need to move
much faster on this critical area of our work.
Cave
snails are threatened by contamination from the use of pesticides and molluscicides
used in areas on the karst surface which are increasingly being cultivated
as vineyards.
Cave
snails are an essential part of any healthy hypogean aquatic ecosystem,
where they provide easily available food, which is rich in nutrients for
consumption by higher aquatic forms such as crustaceans
and
for Proteus anguinus. We illustrate a few examples below, where
the integral scale-grid is always shown in miliimetres.
.
(Below
- from left to right) (i)
Saxurinator brandti
(Schütt, 1968),
with
some damage to the mouth of the aperture;
(ii)
Saxurinator brandti (Schütt,
1968);
.

.
3b.
AQUATIC SPECIES (Facultative) :
(in
preparation)
|