STUDIES OF THE FAUNA OF PERCOLATION WATER of
HUDA LUKNJA, A CAVE IN ISOLATED KARST IN NORTHEAST
SLOVENIA
Tanja PIPAN, Vesna NAVODNIK, Franc JANŽEKOVIČ, Tone NOVAK - (37/1,2008)
The fauna and community ecology of percolation water was
studied using monthly samples of 12 drips in the Medvedji rov
in the cave Huda luknja. This is the largest cave system in the
so-called isolated karst which consists of limestone patches of
<1 to 10 km2 in size in central and northeastern Slovenia. Huda
luknja is developed in one of these patches measuring about
1 km2 in the Triassic limestones—the Paka karst. The research
focused on the investigation of the epikarst fauna in NE Slovenia.
Temperature, conductivity, hardness and concentrations
of various ions in water were measured. Considerable spatial
and temporal variation in parameters existed among the drips.
However, there was no correlation between the community
structure and the parameters. There are six aquatic species and
19 terrestrial species in the epikarst of the Paka isolated karst.
In the drips, individuals of epigean, epikarstic and hypogean
aquatic taxa as well as terrestrial taxa belonging to the same
groups as those in caves in the Dinaric karst were found. Unlike
the Dinaric karst, the most abundant group was oligochaetes,
not copepods. In general, the biotic diversity diminished from
the entrance to deep in the cave. More investigation in the isolated
karst is required to decide either this is the specific characteristic
of this karst patch or a general phenomenon of isolated
karst.
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