Project Director

Chatzimanolis, Stylianos

Department Examiner

Shaw, Joey; Aborn, David

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

The Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee has the highest cave-obligate biodiversity in North America. Cave-obligate species are entirely restricted to subterranean habitat and demonstrate unique troglomorphy. These species are categorized as troglobionts. However, because of their isolated occurrences, theses species are vulnerable to a variety of disturbances. This issue is furthered in the fact that only approximately 7% of the caves in this region have been surveyed. Of these caves that have been surveyed, only a small portion were professional entomological surveys, while almost no cave has ever been extensively repeat sampled. This study involved newly sampling one cave and repeat sampling three others. Caves were selected from White and Van Buren County, which respectively hold the highest cave density in the state. Species were predominantly identified to genus and then compared to the results of any or all prior surveys. All in all, 26 novel pieces of data were created regarding known species distributions and extensive numbers of troglobitic genera were found that were not listed in any prior survey.

Degree

B. S.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Date

5-2021

Subject

Cave ecology; Ecological surveys; Troglodytes

Location

Cumberland Mountains; Van Buren County (Tenn.); White County (Tenn.)

Keyword

beetle; cave; entomology; millipede; survey; troglobites

Discipline

Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Document Type

Theses

Extent

18 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

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