La publicación Subterranean Biology nº 13 (2014) abre sus artículos en este año con dos nuevos trabajos.
El primero sobre Dípteros de la familia Mycetophilidae, titulado: "Traversing worlds - Dispersal potential and ecological classification of Speolepta leptogaster (Winnertz, 1863) (Diptera, Mycetophilidae)" y firmado por los alemanes Dorian D. Dörge, Stefan Zaenker, Annette Klussmann-Kolb y Alexander M. Weigand.
Os ponemos el resumen en inglés de este trabajo:
ABSTRACT:
Speolepta leptogaster (Winnertz, 1863) is frequently occurring in European subterranean environments. As for most cave animals, studies addressing non-anatomical aspects are sparse. Here we present the first molecular study on S. leptogaster. We investigated the demographic structure (i.e. COI locus) of 69 specimens from 36 underground populations in Hesse (Central German Uplands) to get first insights into the species’ dispersal ability.
In total, 14 haplotypes were revealed. Haplotype diversity was relatively high, whereas nucleotide diversity was low. Furthermore, a significant but low pattern of isolation-by-distance and (a) past population expansion event(s) were detected.
Our genetic results suggest a (good) active dispersal ability for Speolepta leptogaster. The occurrence of several surface records of adult specimens corroborates this hypothesis. We discuss the developmental stages of S. leptogaster in the context of the ecological classification system and regard the species as a eutroglophile. Evidence has been found to distinguish two larval types. A reconstructed life-cycle of the species is provided.
El segundo artículo está firmado por los australianos S.A. Halse y G.B. Pearson, firmado como "Troglofauna in the vadose zone: comparison of scraping and trapping results and sampling adequacy", podéis leer el resumen en inglés:
ABSTRACT:
Most sampling of troglofauna occurs in caves but troglofauna species are widespread across the vadose zone in Western Australia in iron ore deposits and calcretes. Other than in karstic calcrete, the subterranean spaces in the Western Australian vadose zone are small and often of similar size to the troglofauna inhabiting them. Here we describe how troglofauna can be sampled in the vadose zone using a technique called scraping, in which a haul net is dropped down a hole drilled for geological exploration. We analysed of the results of 10, 895 sampling events in which both the scraping and trapping techniques were used. In the Pilbara region of Western Australia, where most of the fieldwork occurred, scraping collected approximately three-quarters more troglofaunal animals than trapping and more than twice as many troglofauna species per sample. Most orders of troglofauna were collected in greater numbers by scraping than trapping. However, the yields from both troglofauna sampling techniques are low and, even when the results of both techniques are combined to constitute a single unit of sample effort, the currently prescribed effort for environmental impact assessment will document only about half the species present at a site. It is suggested that a larger number of samples should be collected.
Enhorabuena por los trabajos, son muy interesantes.
(Fotografía extraída de los trabajos publicados en Subterranean Biology)