Abstract

Movile Cave (SE Romania) is the first known subterranean chemosynthesis-based ecosystem. Sulfur- and methane-oxidizing, as well as nitrifying microorganisms, form the base of the food web in this peculiar ecosystem. The bacteria use mainly oxygen from the cave’s atmosphere as electron acceptor to oxidize H2S, CH4, and NH4+, which originate from the deep thermomineral aquifer. These microorganisms form microbial mats that cover the water surface and the cave walls adjacent to the water. For cave standards, this is an unusually abundant primary production that allows 51 invertebrates species to thrive here. Of these, 35 are endemic to this ecosystem and display advanced troglomorphy. Numerous aquatic and terrestrial species graze on the rich microbial mats present in the lower sections of the cave, while others predate on protozoa and smaller invertebrates. Speleogenesis in the Movile Cave area was initiated in the Late Miocene and continues today by the action of the sulfuric acid resulted from the oxidation of sulfide in the lower part of the cave. The cave was sealed off during the Quaternary by thick and impermeable layers of clays and loess.

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