Caves and Cave Life. Philip Chapman
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The New Naturalist Library
A SURVEY OF BRITISH NATURAL HISTORY
CAVES AND CAVE LIFE
Editors
Max Walters, ScD, VMH
Professor Richard West, ScD, FRS
David Streeter, FIBiol
Sarah A. Corbet
Derek Ratcliffe
The aim of this series is to interest the general reader in the wildlife of Britain by recapturing the enquiring spirit of the old naturalists. The editors believe that the natural pride of the British public in the native flora and fauna, to which must be added concern for their conservation, is best fostered by maintaining a high standard of accuracy combined with clarity of exposition in presenting the results of modern scientific research.
A cave spider Porhomma convexum stalks across the floor of GB Cave on Mendip. Above it, a fungus gnat Speolepta leptogaster hangs in a spreading fungal mycelium. (Philip Chapman)
William Collins
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This eBook edition published by William Collins in 2018
© Philip Chapman Philip Chapman asserts his moral rights to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Source ISBN 9780007308545
Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2019 ISBN: 9780007403974
Version: 2019-01-09
Dedicated to the memory of
Dr G.T. ‘Jeff’ Jefferson
a dear colleague and friend
Contents
3. Limestone Caves in Britain and Ireland
Karst: the landscape of caves
Caves in Britain and Ireland
Mendip
Pennines
South Wales
Derbyshire’s Peak District
Sligo-Fermanagh
Clare
Other areas
4. Cave Fauna and Flora
The origin and classification of cavernicoles
Life on the threshold
A place of shelter
Waifs and strays
Denizens of darkness
Submariners
5. Cave Communities
The wall association
Terrestrial mud bank community
‘Batellites’
Pool surface associations
Freshwater stream communities
6. Caves Through the Pleistocene
The age of ice
Pleistocene survivors and recent colonists
Troglodytes
7. The Future of Caves
Cave conservation and the caver
External threats to caves, groundwater pollution and public safety
Impact of human activity on cave faunas
Conservation of cave-roosting bats
Limestone quarrying
Acid rain, caves and flue gas desulphurization