Distributional patterns of cave Collembola (Hexapoda) in association with habitat conditions, geography and subterranean refugia in the Western Carpathians

Abstract

During 2010–2012 the diversity and distribution patterns of Collembola were surveyed in 28 karst and pseudokarst caves of the Western Carpathians, Slovakia. In total 90 species were recorded, 18 of which were closely associated with caves (eutroglophiles), obligate cave forms (troglobionts) were represented by 13 species assigned to the genera Pseudosinella (5), Deuteraphorura (3), Megalothorax (2), Protaphorura (1), Pygmarrhopalites (1) and Neelus (1). Cave entrance elevation, internal air temperature and geographic location played an important role in the distribution of cave Collembola. Species diversity was positively correlated with internal air temperature and negatively with cave elevation and latitude. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS), cluster and indicator value (IndVal) analyses showed that communities of cave Collembola display a clear geographic pattern in the Western Carpathians. The Slovak and Aggtelek Karst and adjacent areas in the south-eastern part of the Western Carpathians have higher species diversity and number of troglobionts in contrast with karst areas of the central part that have only a few obligate cave forms. Northern karst areas are obviously less diverse and troglomorphic taxa are absent there. The study supports the idea that southern and central karst units of the Western Carpathians might represent important glacial refugia for subterranean fauna.