Survey topographic, environmental and invertebrate’s occurrence of Santa Clara Cave, Jundiaí-SP, Brazil.

Abstract

The Santa Clara cave, located in the biosphere reserve of Japi Mountain range, is a remnant of the Atlantic Forest consisting of secondary forests in yellow podzolic soil and characterized by quartzite rocks. Officially protected by CONDEPHAAT, it has some unidentified invertebrate animals. The objective was to perform the topographic survey, the identification of the invertebrate fauna and the relationships between the environmental characteristics of the cavity with the taxon occurrence, in a period of one year, for the knowledge of the specific biome, and preservation . The results obtained characterize a cave composed of five distinct halls, with the occurrence of invertebrates distributed in 5 classes, 10 families and 12 species in a total of 252 taxon observed. The internal environmental relations and the taxon occurrence in the halls demonstrated the similarities and variations of occurrence related to the external environment. It was concluded that the Santa Clara cave represents a habitat with a topographic situation favorable to maintenance of invertebrate species, with a distinct occurrence between the entrance and the indoor halls. The interrelation of invertebrates presented a delicate balance. The survey carried out served as a basis for a proposal to preserve the cave environment.