COBISS: 1.01 Contributions to Speleobiology Appearing in Acta Carsologica Speleobiološki prispevki v Acta Carsologica Tanja Pipan1 & David C. Culver2 Abstract UDC 551.44:57:050(497.4) Tanja Pipan & David C. Culver: Contributions to Speleobi­ology Appearing in Acta Carsologica Although primarily known as a journal of karst geosciences and hydrology, Acta Carsologica has played a vital role in the development of speleobiology. A total of 65 biological papers on speleobiology were published in the journal from 1955 to 2014. Many of the papers, especially in the early years of the journal, added to the knowledge base of species distribution and description, but important conceptual and synthetic pa­pers have also appeared. Two special issues were devoted to in­terdisciplinary topics with a major biological component-time in karst, and carbon and boundaries in karst. Key words: biospeleology, cave biology, Egon Pretner, speleo­biology. Izvleček UDK 551.44:57:050(497.4) Tanja Pipan & David C. Culver: Speleobiološki prispevki v Acta Carsologica Čeprav je Acta Carsologica v prvi vrsti zbornik s področja kraške geoznanosti in hidrologije, ima ključno vlogo tudi pri razvoju speleobiologije. V obdobju od 1955 do 2014 je bilo v zborniku skupno objavljenih 65 prispevkov s področja (speleo)biologije. Številni prispevki, zlasti v prvih letih zbornika, so te­meljili na opisu novih vrst in njihovi razširjenosti, objavljeni pa so bili tudi pomembni konceptualni in analitični prispevki. Dve posebni izdaji sta bili posvečeni meddisciplinarnim vsebi­nam z osrednjo biološko komponento – čas v krasu ter ogljik in meje v krasu. Ključne besede: biospeleologija, jamska biologija, Egon Pre­tner, speleobiologija. Introduction There are many processes and features either unique to, or especially pronounced in caves and karst. On the bio­logical side, these features include the presence of the eye­less, depigmented denizens of subterranean habitats and the presence of carbon-limited ecosystems without any photosynthetic production of organic molecules (Culver & Pipan 2009). The evolutionary loss of characters, es­pecially eyes and pigment, of subterranean organisms, is interesting in its own right but also informative to the larger disciplines of ecology and evolutionary biology. Speleobiologists have long faced the dilemma of ei­ther publishing in specialized karst journals such as Acta Carsologica, or publishing in more broadly oriented sci­entific journals, such as Evolution. For many years, this choice was made easy because of the refusal of main­stream journals to publish karst studies. That time has passed, and speleobiologists do face a choice. In this con­tribution, we argue that journals like Acta Carsologica continue to be of fundamental importance in the growth and development of the field of speleobiology. Acta Carsologica plays two vital roles in karst sci­ence disciplines in general and speleobiology in par­ticular. The first is that of a dependable outlet for karst research and especially for description and summaries of information on taxonomy, biogeography, and basic biology of subterranean species. Obvious examples in­clude species lists, species descriptions, and species dis­tributions, studies that form the necessary basis for more synthetic and speculative studies. The second is that it is a dependable outlet for those studies that build the dis­ciplinary principles of speleobiology itself, and even the broader disciplines, such as biogeography. Examples in­clude the restriction of dispersal due to geological barri­ers. There is nothing especially unique about this duality of the specific and the general. Most subdisciplines of biology and geology have specialized journals. What is unique about Acta Carsologica is that it has served this role, not only in the disciplines of karst geology and hy­drology, its core disciplines, but in speleobiology as well. According to its mission statement, Acta Carsologica publishes original research papers and reviews, letters, essays and reports covering topics related to specific of karst areas. These comprise, but are not limited to karst geology, hydrology and geomorphol­ogy, speleology, hydrogeology, biospeleology and history of karst science. We discuss below the role the journal has played in the development of the disciplines of biospeleology, with its emphasis on the broader discipline of speleology and speleobiology, with its emphasis on the broader disci­pline of biology. In its earlier years, Acta Carsologica em­phasized the Classical Karst, the area in SW Slovenia be­tween Ljubljana and Trieste (Gabrovšek & Ravbar 2015), but there is scarcely any biological phenomenon occur­ring in caves that does not occur in the Classical Karst. 1 Karst Research Institute at ZRC-SAZU, Titov trg 2, Postojna, Slovenia, SI-6230, e-mail: pipan@zrc-sazu.si 2 dculver@american.edu Received/Prejeto: 02.03.2016 ACTA CARSOLOGICA 45/1, 123–129, POSTOJNA 2016 Tanja Pipan & David C. Culver A Brief History of Subterranean Biology Barr (1966), writing about the history of subterranean biology in the United States identifies a time when most papers published in subterranean biology in the U.S. were taxonomic or distributional. This period was earlier in the U.S. than in Europe, and ended in 1955, according to Barr. In fact, taxonomic description and faunal distribu­tion remains to this day the most common topic in sub­terranean biology. For example, the majority of papers in Subterranean Biology, the journal of the International Society of Subterranean Biology, are taxonomic. Many of the trends in the study of subterranean bi­ology are represented by papers published in Acta Carso­logica. Ever since its beginning in 1955, important pub­lications in subterranean biology have appeared (Tab. 1), including a series of taxonomic and distribution papers by the famed Slovenian biologist Egon Pretner. A total of 70 papers on speleobiology have appeared between 1955 and 2015 (Appendix 1). A number of biological papers on surface biota of karst (e.g., turloughs and disappear­ing [intermittent] lakes) have also appeared in Acta Car­sologica, but will not be considered further. Speleobio­logical papers published in Acta Carsologica from 1955 to 1974 are mostly taxonomic and distributional. Pret­ner alone published nine papers on the distribution and taxonomy of cave beetles. In addition to the taxonomic and distributional studies, there were papers published, beginning in the mid-1970’s, that were more synthet­ic and process oriented. Of special note are the papers published by Hadži, Briegleb, Schatz, and Istenič on the physiology of that most iconic of cave animals, Proteus anguinus. Jovan Hadži, a prominent Slovenian biologist and speleobiologist, was the founding editor of the jour­nal (Gabrovšek & Ravbar 2015). The paper by Briegleb and Schatz (1974) is especially noteworthy both because it puts forward the idea that caves are an extreme envi­ronment, but also that Proteus can be a model organism for the study of some aspects of animal physiology. Between 1975 and 1994, little biological research was published in Acta Carsologica, although this pe­riod was one of intense research activity in speleobiol­ogy. There were several notable papers that did appear in Acta Carsologica during this period—notably continu­ing studies by Tone Novak on the microdistribution and ecology of terrestrial cave animals (Novak et al. 1980) and by Boris Bulog on the biology of Proteus anguinus (Bulog 1994). The reasons for this hiatus in biological publications in Acta Carsologica are complex but include the internationalization of studies in cave biology result­ing in a larger number of outlets available for publica­tion. By the mid-1990’s there was a burst of publications that continues to the present (Tab. 1). In contrast to the earlier period of biological publi­cations, the range of topics published after 1994 in Acta Carsologica is broad. Besides papers on the basic biology, ecology, and physiology of cave animals, topics that ap­pear in the earlier period as well, there are new areas of research represented: • Evolutionary ecology • Microbiology • Biogeography and evolution • Ecosystems • Conservation • Syntheses and reviews Especially noteworthy and influential in speleobi­ology have been the publications from two special sym­posia, organized in conjunction with the Karst Waters Institute (USA). Both symposia were broadly interdisci­plinary and drew scientists from a number of countries. The first of these was a 2007 symposium on “time in karst.” Participants addressed the problem of how long both physical and biological processes in karst take, a topic of interest not only to evolutionary ecologists but to geologists and physical geographers as well. Seven bi­ological papers were published in this special issue, and most of them directly addressed the difficult question of how long species, including Mexican and Brazilian cave­fish (Porter et al. 2007; Trajano 2007), arthropods in the Dinaric karst (Trontelj et al. 2007), and planthoppers in Hawaiian and Australian lava tubes (Wessel et al. 2007) have been isolated in caves. Not surprisingly, estimates of time of isolation vary from group to groups, but with some clustering of estimates at around one to five mil­lion years ago. This set of papers was the first to bring together results for widely different groups of subter­ranean animals, but also in the dominance of DNA se­quence data in the analysis. Interestingly, many physical processes in karst seemed to have a similar time frame of one to ten million years (Sasowsky 2007). The second interdisciplinary symposium was held in 2013 on the topic of “carbon and boundaries in karst”, the origin, dynamics and fate of organic and inorganic carbon in caves and karst basins, a topic central to karst ecosystem studies. The topic is at the boundary of the bi­ological and geoscience disciplines, and this is reflected in the published papers. Four of the 16 papers were pri­marily biological, but all had biological relevance. Caves are likely carbon-limited rather than nutrient limited and the importance of different carbon pathways (e.g., epikarst), was the focus of two of these papers (Hutchins et al. 2013; Simon 2013). Novak et al. (2013) pointed out a little studied pathway (carbon from non-specialized terrestrial invertebrates) may be important, and Pipan and Culver (2013) demonstrated that bursts of organic carbon were likely important in shallow subterranean habitats. Largely neglected until the last two decades, the im­portance of microbes in carbon processing and even in geochemical processes has begun to be recognized. Pa­pers on microbiology in Acta Carsologica have provided an important basis of understanding the ubiquity of mi­crobes in the karst environment, and the high taxonomic and metabolic diversity of forms (e.g., Mulec et al. 2012; Hillebrand-Voiculescu et al. 2014). The growing importance of conservation is also reflected in the pages of Acta Carsologica. Most biologi­cal and many geological papers for that matter stress the importance of protection of fragile karst resources, and some are focused on the topic, especially that of Simoes et al. (2014) on the cave fauna of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Other conservation-oriented papers, but not on biological conservation, have appeared in Acta Carsologica (e.g., Restificar et al. 2006). Finally, papers on biogeography and evolution have been a continuing theme in Acta Carsologica, beginning with Pretner’s studies of distribution of beetles from 1955 on (see Pretner 1974; Pipan 1997 for reviews). More syn­thetic approaches appear in papers by Moldovan and Ra­jka (2007) on the relationship between old historical bio­geographic studies and contemporary phylogeographic studies based on DNA sequences and the possible con­nection between range size and phylogenetic age (Culver & Pipan 2007). Contributions to Speleobiology Appearing in Acta Carsologica Tab. 1: Classification of articles on speleobiology in Acta Carsologica according to topic. A complete list of papers is given in Appendix 1. Category 1955-1964 1965-1974 1975-1984 1985-1994 1995-2004 2005-2014 TOTAL Taxonomy, species distributions 8 4 1 2 4 20 Basic biology, ecology, physiology 1 5 1 1 1 4 13 Conservation 1 1 2 Evolutionary ecology 4 2 6 Microbiology 2 3 5 Biogeography & Evolution 1 7 8 Ecosystems 7 7 Syntheses & reviews   1     2 2 4 Total 9 10 2 1 13 30 65 Tanja Pipan & David C. Culver The Human Factor Science is not just driven by ideas; dedicated people are necessary as well. Four biologists have held positions at the Karst Research Institute, the home of Acta Carsolo­gica—Egon Pretner, Tone Novak, Janez Mulec, and Tanja Pipan. Their presence in an institute dominated by geo­scientists and geographers, has demonstrated the insti­tute’s continuing support for broad-scale interdiscipli­nary research. They have served and continue to serve as exemplars to their institute colleagues that there is more to karst science than geoscience. Egon Pretner was the sole author of nine papers in Acta Carsologica. As Pipan (1997) pointed out, Pretner, more than anyone else, was responsible for the extensive collections of cave fauna throughout former Yugoslavia (more than 1400 caves), especially Slovenia (649 caves). One measure of his importance is that more than 25 spe­cies have been named in his honor, and most of these species were ones he collected. Tone Novak continued the tradition of careful and extensive collections of cave animals, and pioneered eco­logical studies of the terrestrial cave fauna (e.g., Novak 2005). Janez Mulec has been at the forefront of a new generation of microbiologists who investigate the distri­bution and metabolic roles of microbes, using both tra­ditional culture techniques as well as molecular genetic approaches (e.g., Mulec et al. 2012). Tanja Pipan has ex­tensively studied epikarst, and has shown its importance in subterranean biodiversity and as a source of organic carbon for caves (e.g., Pipan & Culver 2013). Both Mulec and Pipan have participated in numerous interdisciplin­ary studies centered at the institute (e.g., the study of Pivka Lakes, in volume 34, no. 3 of Acta Carsologica). Literature Cited Barr, T.C., 1966: Evolution of cave biology in the United States, 1822–1965.- Bulletin of the National Speleo­logical Society, 28,15-21. Briegleb, W. & A. Schatz, 1974: Der Extrembiotop Höhle als Informationslieferant für die allgemeine Physi­ologie am beispiel des Grottenolms (Proteus angui­nus Laur.).- Acta carsologica, 4, 287-297. Bulog, B., 1994: Two decades of functional-morphologi­cal studies of Proteus anguinus (Amphibia, Cauda­ta).- Acta carsologica, 19, 247-263. Culver, D.C. & T. Pipan, 2007: What does the distribu­tion of stygobiotic Copepoda (Crustacea) tell us about their age?.- Acta carsologica, 36, 1, 87-91. Culver, D.C. & T. Pipan, 2009: The biology of caves and other subterranean habitats.- Oxford University Press, pp. 254, Oxford. Gabrovšek, F. & N. Ravbar, 2015: Editorial: 60 years of Acta Carsologica: past, present, future.- Acta carso­logica, 44, 287-288. Hillebrand-Voiculescu, A., Itcus, C., Ardelean, I., Pascu, D., Persoiu, A., Rusu, A., Brad, T., Popa, E., Onac, B.P. & C. Purcarea, 2014: Searching for cold-adap­ted microorganisms in the underground glacier of Scarisoara Ice Cave, Romania.- Acta carsologica, 43, 2-3, 319-329. Hutchins, B.T., Schwartz, B.F. & A.S. Engel, 2013: Envi­ronmental controls on organic matter production and transport across surface-subsurface and geo­chemical boundaries in the Edwards Aquifer, Texas, USA.- Acta carsologica, 42, 245-259. Moldovan, O.T. & G. Rajka, 2007: Historical biogeo­graphy of subterranean beetles–“Plato’s Cave” or sci­entific evidence?.- Acta Carsologica, 36, 1, 77-86. Mulec, J., Krištůfek, V. & A. Chroňáková, 2012: Monito­ring of microbial indicator groups in caves through the use of RIDA® count kits.- Acta carsologica, 41, 2/3, 287-296. Novak, T., 2005: Terrestrial fauna from cavities in Northern and Central Slovenia, and a review of sy­stematically ecologically investigated cavities.- Acta Carsologica, 34, 169-210. Novak, T., Janžekovič, F. & S. Lipovšek, 2013: Contribu­tion of non-troglobiotic terrestrial invertebrates to carbon input in hypogean habitats.- Acta carsologi­ca, 42, 301-309. Novak, T., Kuštor, V., Kranjc, A. & I. Sivec, 1980: Contri­bution to the knowledge of the across-passage dis­tribution of fauna.- Acta carsologica, 9, 149-179. Pipan, T., 1997: The historical significance of Egon Pret­ner for biology.- Acta carsologica, 26, 2, 175-195. Pipan, T. & D.C. Culver, 2013: Organic carbon in shallow subterranean habitats.- Acta carsologica, 42, 2/3, 291-300. Porter, M.L., Dittmar, K. & M. Pérez-Losada, 2007: How long does evolution of the troglomorphic form take? Estimating divergence times in Astyanax mex­icanus.- Acta carsologica, 36, 1, 173-182. Pretner, E., 1974: Historische Übersciht der koleopterol­ogischen Firschungen in den Höhlen Sloweniens.- Acta carsologica, 6, 309-316. Restificar, S.D.F., Day, M.J. & P.B. Urich, 2006: Protection of karst in the Philippines.- Acta carsologica, 35, 1, 121-130. Sasowsky, I.D., 2007: Clastic sediments in caves–imper­fect recorders of processes in karst.- Acta carsologi­ca, 36, 1, 143-149. Simoes, M.H., Souza-Silva,M. & R.L. Ferreira, 2014: Cave invertebrates in northwestern Minas Gerais state, Brazil: Endemism, threats and conservation priorities.- Acta carsologica, 43, 159-174. Simon, K.S., 2013: Organic matter flux in the epikarst of the Dorvan Karst, France.- Acta carsologica, 42, 237-244. Trajano, E., 2007: The challenge of estimating the age of subterranean lineages: examples from Brazil.- Acta carsologica, 36, 1, 191-198. Trontelj, P., Gorički, Š., Polak, S., Verovnik, R., Zakšek, V. & B. Sket, 2007: Age estimates for some subter­ranean taxa and lineages in the Dinaric Karst.- Acta carsologica, 36, 1, 183-189. Wessel, A., Erbe, P. & H. Hoch, 2007: Pattern and pro­cess: Evolution of troglomorphy in the cave-planthoppers of Australia and Hawai’i.preliminary observations (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Cixiidae).- Acta carsologica, 36, 1, 199-206. Contributions to Speleobiology Appearing in Acta Carsologica Appendix 1 YEAR VOLUME AUTHOR TITLE 1955 1 Pretner E. Genera Oryotus, Pretneria, Astagobius and Leptodirus (Coleoptera) 1959 2 Pretner E. Contribution to the knowledge of genus Aphaenopsis J. Müller (Coleoptera, Trechinae) 1959 2 Strasser K. Verhoeffodesmus n. g. fragilipes n. sp., a cave diplopoda from Istria 1959 2 Grom S. Contribution to the knowledge of flora from Škocjanske jame 1959 2 Pretner E. Genus Ceuthmonocharis Jeannel (Colepotera, Catopidae) 1963 3 Pretner E. Biological findings in Skakavac 1963 3 Pretner E. Biological investigations in Serbia 1963 3 Briegleb W., Schatz A. Eco-habitat of human fish (Proteus anguinus Laur. 1768) 1963 3 Grom S. Contribution to the knowledge of Bryophyta from Slovenian costal region 1966 4 Strasser K. Diplopoda from Slovenia 1966 4 Pretner E. Habitats of cave beetle Spelaeodromus pluto Reitter 1881 1970 5 Us Pëtr A. Contribution to the knowledge of cave Orthoptera from Yugoslavia (Orthoptera, Tettigonioidea) 1970 5 Pretner E. Leptodirus hochenwarti velebiticus ssp. and Astagobius hadzii sp. n. from Velebit, Astagobius angustatus deelemani ssp. n. and Astagobius angustatus driolii ssp. n. from Lika (Coleoptera) 1970 5 Pretner E. Remarks to the catalogue of Laneyrie's new classification of subfamily Bathysciinae (Coleoptera) and explanation to the catalogue of subfamily Bathysciinae 1974 6 Hadži J. Human fish is neotenic or is not an amphibious 1974 6 Bole J. Subterranean snails and zoogeographic conditions in Slovenian costal region 1974 6 Briegleb W., Schatz A. Extreme cave biotop as a source of information for general physiology in the case of human fish (Proteus anguinus Laur.) 1974 6 Istenič L., Sojar A. Oxygen consumption of Proteus anguinus YEAR VOLUME AUTHOR TITLE 1974 6 Pretner E. Historical review of researhes of Coleoptera in Slovenian caves 1974 6 Drovenik B. One year monitoring of cave beetles in two caves in Dobrovlje 1978 8 Us Pëtr A. Second contribution to the knowledge of cave Orthoptera from Yugoslavia (Orthoptera, Tettigonioidea) 1980 9 Novak T., Kuštor V., Kranjc A., Sivec N. Contribution to the knowledge of the across-passage distribution of fauna (in big passages) 1994 23 Bulog B. Two decades of functional-morphological studies of Proteus anguinus (Amphibia, Caudata) 1996 25 Bulog B. Analyses of some microelements in the tissues of Proteus anguinus (Amphibia, Caudata) and its habitat 1997 26/1 Brancelj A. Fauna in selected karst springs from the Trnovsko-Banjška Planota 1997 26/2 Barabás E. Emile G. Racovitza and his important role in speleobiology 1997 26/3 Pipan T. A historical significance of Egon Pretner for biology 1997 26/4 Polak S. A classification of the subterranean environment and cave fauna 2001 30/2 Pipan T., Brancelj A. Ratio of copepods (Crustacea: Copepoda) in fauna of percolation water in six karst caves in Slovenia 2002 31/1 Culver D.C., Sket B. Biological monitoring in caves 2002 31/2 Mulec J., Zalar P., Zupan Hajna N., Rupnik M. Screening for culturable microorganisms from cave environments (Slovenia) 2004 33/1 Price L. An introduction to some cave fauna of Malaysia and Thailand 2004 33/1 Gerič B., Pipan T., Mulec J. Diversity of culturable bacteria and meiofauna in the epikarst of Škocjanske jame caves (Slovenia) 2004 33/2 Pipan T. Ecological and microgeographical study of an epikarstic fauna in West Virginia (USA) 2004 33/2 Novak T., Sambol J., Janžekovič F. Faunal dynamics in the Železna jama cave 2005 34/1 Novak T. Terrestrial fauna from cavities in northern and central Slovenia, and a review of systematically ecologically investigated cavities 2005 34/3 Pipan T. Fauna of the Pivka intermittent lakes 2007 36/1 Latella L., Sauro U. Aspects of the evolution of an important geo-ecosystem in the Lessinian Mountain (Venetian Prealps, Italy) 2007 36/1 Moldovan O.T., Rajka G. Historical biogeography of subterranean beetles - "Plato's cave" or scientific evidence? 2007 36/1 Culver D.C., Pipan T. What does the distribution of stygobiotic Copepoda (Crustacea) tell us about their age? 2007 36/1 Porter M.L., Dittmar K., Pérez-Losada M. How long does evolution of the troglomorphic form take? Estimating divergence times in Astyanax mexicanus 2007 36/1 Trontelj P., Gorički Š., Polak S., Verovnik R., Zakšek V., Sket B. Age estimates for some subterranean taxa and lineages in the Dinaric karst. 2007 36/1 Trajano E. The challenge of estimating the age of subterranean lineages: examples from Brazil 2007 36/1 Wessel A., Erbe P., Hoch H. Pattern and process: Evolution of troglomorphy in the cave-planthoppers of australia and Hawai'i - Preliminary observations (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Cixiidae) 2007 36/2 Lewis J.J., Reid J.W. Patterns and processes of groundwater invasion by copepods in the Interior plateaus of the United States 2007 36/3 Moldovan O.T., Pipan T., Iepure S., Mihevc A., Mulec J. Biodiversity and ecology of fauna in percolating water in selected Slovenian and Romanian caves 2008 37/1 Pipan T., Navodnik V., Janžekovič F., Novak T. Studies of the fauna of percolation water of Huda luknja, a cave in isolated karst in northeast Slovenia 2008 37/1 Mulec J. Microorganisms in hypogeon: examples from Slovenian karst caves YEAR VOLUME AUTHOR TITLE 2010 39/3 Culver D.C., Pipan T. Climate, abiotic factors, and the evolution of subterranean life 2010 39/3 Mulec J., Kubešová S. Diversity of bryophytes in show caves in Slovenia and relation to light intensities 2011 40/3 Papi F., Pipan T. Ecological studies of an epikarts community in Snežna jama na planini Arto - an ice cave in north central Slovenia 2012 41/1 Silva M.S., de Oliveira Bernardi L.F., Martins R.P., Ferreira R.L. Transport and consumption of organic detritus in a neotropical limestone cave 2012 41/2-3 Mulec J., Krištůfek V., Chroňáková A. Monitoring of microbial indicator groups in caves through the use of RIDA®COUNT kits 2012 41/2-3 Pipan T., Fišer C., Novak T., Culver D.C. Fifty years of the hypotelminorheic: What have we learned? 2013 42/2-3 Novak T., Janžekovič F., Lipovšek S. Contribution of non-troglobiotic terrestrial invertebrates to carbon input in hypogean habitats 2013 42/2-3 Pipan T., Culver D.C. Organic carbon in shallow subterranean habitats 2013 42/2-3 Hutchins B.T., Schwartz B.F., Engel A.S. Environmental controls on organic matter production and transport across surface-subsurface and geochemical boundaries in the Edwards Aqufer, Texas, USA 2013 42/2-3 Simon K.S. Organic matter flux in the epikarts of the Dorvan karst, France 2013 42/2-3 Herman J.S., Hounshell A.G., Franklin R.B., Mills A.L. Biological control on acid generation at the conduit-bedrock boundary in submerged caves: quantification through geochemical modeling 2013 42/2-3 Schwartz B.F., Schwinning S., Gerrard B., Kukowski K.R., Stinson C.L., Dammeyer H.C. Using hydrogeochemical and ecohydrologic responses to understand epikarst process in semi-arid systems, Edwards plateau, Texas, USA 2014 43/1 Al-Farraj A., Slabe T., Knez M., Gabrovšek F., Mulec J., Petrič M., Hajna Zupan N. Karst in Ras Al-Khaimah, northern United Arab Emirates 2014 43/1 Castello M. Species diversity of bryophytes and ferns of lampenflora in Grotta Gigante (NE Italy) 2014 43/1 Weigand A.M. Next stop: underground. Variable degrees and variety of reasons for cave penetration in terrestrial gastropods 2014 43/1 Simoes M.H., Souza-Silva M., Ferreira R.L. Cave invertebrates in northwestern Minas Gerais State, Brazil: endemism, threats and conservation priorities 2014 43/1 Liu W., Brancelj A. Hydrochemical response of cave drip water to snowmelt study from Velika Pasica Cave, Central Slovenia 2014 43/2-3 Hillebrand-Voiculescu A., Itcus C., Ardelean I., Pascu D., Persoiu A., Rusu A., Brad T., Popa E., Onac B.P., Purcarea C. Searching for cold-adapted microorganisms in the underground glacier of Scarisoara Ice Cave, Romania 2014 43/2-3 Novak T., Csuzdi C., Janžekovič F., Pipan T., Devetak D., Lipovšek S. Survival of the epigean Dendrodrilus rubidus tenuis (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) in a subterranean environment 2015 44/1 Matavelli R., Campos A.M., Feio R.N., Ferreira R.L. Occurrence of anurans in Brazilian caves 2015 44/2 Opalički Slabe M. Patterns in invertebrate drift from an Alpine karst aquifer over a one year period 2015 44/3 Culver D.C., Pipan T. Shifting paradigms of the evolution of cave life Tanja Pipan & David C. Culver Contributions to Speleobiology Appearing in Acta Carsologica