In this article we further studied the trophic niche of two sympatric salamanders: the Fire salamander Salamandra salamandra and the Italian cave salamander Speleomantes italicus. We here collected data on the autumnal diet and, besides comparing that of the two species, for each species we also evaluated seasonal divergences.
Title: Variability of Seasonal Trophic Niche in Two Sympatric Salamanders: Italian Cave Salamanders and Fire Salamanders
Authors: Fabio Cianferoni, Milos Di Gregorio, Claudia Corti, Enrico Lunghi
In this article we assessed the consistency of individual diet specialization of three populations of Speleomantes ambrosii throughout a period of three years. We found evidence of significant variation of the proportion of specialized individuals between different seasons, and between different years when considering the same season.
Title: Yearly variation in individual diet specialization: Evidence from cave salamanders
Authors: Enrico Lunghi, Gentile Francesco Ficetola, Raoul Manenti, Giorgio Mancinelli
In this article we analyzed the abundance of three facultative cave species inhabiting the transition zone between surface environment and deep cave areas. Speciefically, we examined the abundance of two spiders and one snail, identifying which are the environmental and biological factors affecting the number of observed individuals.
Title: Microclimatic Influences on the Abundance of Three Non-Troglobiont Species
We are pleased to inform that the collection of articles published in the special issue “Salamanders: Distribution, Diversity, and Conservation” edited by Dr. Lunghi is now available as a book. You can download the pdf for free from the link below.
Title: Salamanders: Distribution, Diversity, and Conservation
We enjoyed the field activity in Sardegna searching for epigean populations of Speleomantes! We spent 10 days collecting data on multiple populations of four specie: S. genei, S. sarrabusensis, S. imperialis and S. flavus. These activities integrated the great monitoring program lead by our friend Dr. Cogoni.
We are pleased to inform that the collection of articles published in the research topic “Adaptations to Subterranean Environments” edited by Dr. Lunghi, Prof. Niemiller and Dr. Bilandzija is now available as ebook. You can download the pdf for free from this link.
We collected 13 papers, 8 research articles and 5 reviewes. Below our editorial.
Title: Adaptations to Subterranean Environments
Editors: Enrico Lunghi, Matthew Niemiller, Helena Bilandzija
We are pleased to inform that the collection of articles published in the special issue “Cave Communities: From the Surface Border to the Deep Darkness” edited by Dr. Manenti and Dr. Lunghi is now available as a book. You can download the pdf for free from the link below.
Title: Cave Communities: From the Surface Border to the Deep Darkness
In this article we performed a review aiming to define the state-of-the-art of researches published on the behabviour of Speleomantes cave salamanders, and we provided insights for future researches aiming to fill the current knowledge gap.
Title: Recent Advances in the Behavioral Ecology of European Plethodontid Salamanders
Authors: Andrea Costa , Enrico Lunghi, Giacomo Rosa, Sebastiano Salvidio
Amazing conference! Great vibe, great people! I want to thank all particpiants and the great job done by the Organizing Committee. See you at the next one! 😉
We recently got funds for this project, which aims to assess the presence of trace metals in cave soil and whether they are stored in animals tissues. The project will start in December 2024. Here a breif description.
Subterranean environments are widespread on Earth, yet we have a poor knowledge of their biota. These environments are characterized by peculiar characteristics that make them unique but also extremely sensitive to human induced effects. Nonetheless, they hold a very rich and unique biodiversity. A few studies focused on assessing the potential pollutants of different nature into subterranean environments; surprisingly those focusing on metal contaminants are quite scarce. Furthermore, the majority of those studies analysed groundwater, while cave soil has been usually neglected.
With this project we aim to perform the first assessment of metal contaminants in soil and organisms from different caves, as well as from surface soil in the proximity of each cave entrance, in order to evaluate the flux and accumulation of these contaminants across environments and trophic webs. To reach this goal, we will assess patterns of metal accumulation and gene expression in two facultative cave species living in highly polluted and lowly polluted (i.e., control) caves of the Apennines: the Italian cave salamander Speleomantes italicus (Amphibia; Plethodontidae) and the Laetitia’s cave cricket Dolichopoda laetitiae (Insecta; Rhaphidophoridae). These two species often live in syntopy and occupy different positions in the subterranean trophic web; cave salamanders are top predators, while cave crickets are saprophagous that occupy the lowest trophic level.
We will choose 20 caves (at least 10 inhabited by each target species) and measure the concentration of multiple metal contaminants in cave soil, as well as in the soil from the surroundings of the cave entrance. Caves are chosen according to their vicinity to pollution sources (e.g., quarry, roads). To assess the effects of metal pollution, we will analyse the metal-tissue burden and gene expression differences in both S. italicus (n=24) and D. laetitiae (n=24) living in two highly polluted and two lowly polluted caves (6 individuals per species from each cave). For each salamander, we will analyse gene expression differences by transcriptomics analysis (RNAseq) of three key tissues involved in metal uptake (skin) and metal storage and detoxification (muscle and liver). For the same tissues, we will measure the concentration of the biologically-available and potentially toxic metals by Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). For crickets the metal burden and transcriptomic differences will be assessed on the whole-body tissue.
Results from this project will elucidate the metal contaminants fluxes across the interface between surface and subterranean ecosystems, and their potential impacts on biodiversity, including the patterns of bioaccumulation among cave organisms and across trophic webs, and the mechanisms used by organisms to deal with chronic metal exposure.
