Abstract
Worldwide, caves and groundwater habitats harbor thousands of species modified and limited to subterranean habitats in karst. Data are concentrated in Europe and USA, where a number of detailed analyses have been performed. Much less is known with respect to global patterns due to a lack of data. This special issue will focus on and discuss the global patterns of individual hotspot caves and groundwater habitats.
Highlights
The denizens of caves and other habitats without light hold a special interest for students of biodiversity [1]
How these species from disparate groups, including both vertebrates and invertebrates, evolved this convergent morphology remains a subject of intense research, both in the laboratory [5,6,7] and in the field [8,9]
Cave fauna are a magnificent example of convergent evolution and adaptation [10,11]
Summary
The denizens of caves and other habitats without light hold a special interest for students of biodiversity [1]. What is less well known is that there are thousands of species specialized for life in darkness, especially in caves. While there are several datasets on the georeferenced occurrence of specialized subterranean species from both Europe and the United States with over 2000 records [15,16,17,18], these records were hard-won and without parallel in other continents and regions.
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