EuroSpeleo 2016
Amazing Caves: Amazing Microbes
Oral|Dr Hazel Barton
Abstract
Caves, by their nature, are aphotic and geologically isolated. It would therefore seem that the microbial ecology of these environments would be of limited interest. Yet it is the isolated nature of these environments that make them so fascinating to study. Not only do caves contain a remarkable and varied microbial ecosystem, but their very geologic isolation allows us to examine processes that cannot be studied elsewhere. The absence of disturbance (such as diurnal, seasonal or meteorological) allows us to study ecosystems that have been in equilibrium for thousands of years and reveal aspects of microbial evolution and physiology that would be impossible to study in surface ecosystems.
More from 2016
Oral|Dr George Veni
World’s First Geophysical Surveys of Bat Guano
Oral|Miss Catherine Moody
China Caves- A Journey into the Unknown
Poster|Mr David St Pierre
Poster: The new edition of the Grotte Casteret (Gruta Helada de Casteret) Annotated and Illustrated Bibliography.
Film|Mr A Freem
Caver's Cinema - Monday
Field|Dr Trevor Faulkner
Field Trip to the caves of Giggleswick Scar and discussion about their speleogenesis
Oral|Mr Paul Taylor
Forest of Dean Round Up
Oral|Mr Vanyo Gyorev
The Unexplored - documentary film
Oral|Mr Yuanhai Zhang
International exploration is key to karst cave protection and development in China
Oral|Mr Rainer Straub
From the blue into the dark – Exploration of the amazing Blautopfhöhle, Germany
Oral|Ms Heliana Dundarova
North East Iran - Bulgarian-Iranian Speleo Expedition 2015