Cryptic variation in a cryptal environment: Biodiversity and ecology of cave invertebrates in the Central German Uplands

• Applicant: Dr. Alexander M. Weigand, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 323623517

The Convention on Biological Diversity defines biodiversity as the variety of genes, species and ecosystems. Biodiversity loss influences the stability of ecosystems, their functions and services as well as sustainable life on our planet. The ongoing and partly anthropogenic-induced biodiversity loss is recognized as one of the central ecological but also societal global risks of our time. However, to measure the loss of gene variants, species and ecosystem types, the status quo has to be assessed first. In particular, knowledge about the genetic diversity and species pool of subterranean ecosystems is missing, preventing any valid statements about present and future biodiversity changes so far. In Germany, 740 species are known from cave and groundwater habitats, which can be classified into three ecological categories: i) eutroglobionts, which are fully adapted to a subterranean life and often demonstrate adaptive morphological traits, ii) eutroglophiles, which form stable underground populations over multiple generations but can colonize comparable surface environments, and iii) subtroglophiles, which actively colonize subterranean habitats only during a particular season or developmental stages.This project investigates the natural level of spatial and seasonal changes in subterranean species pools, identifies cave species affected by tourism and compares the levels of intraspecific genetic diversity among cave species with contrasting mobility and ecological cave-affinities. The project design is composed of six touristic as well as six nearby, near-natural limestone caves of the Central German Uplands, which will be sampled at three time points (winter, spring, summer). Subterranean species pools will be identified by a DNA Metabarcoding approach. The analysis of intraspecific genetic diversity is performed for twelve characteristic cave species within a comparative phylogeographical framework.The results will provide a first comprehensive picture of the ecology, species pool and genetic diversity of cave communities in the Central German Uplands. They will further identify the natural spatial and seasonal dynamics of subterranean species pools, thus to enable a more robust differentiation of natural compared to human-made (touristic) and future climate-induced biodiversity changes.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants