EuroSpeleo 2016

Amazing Caves: Amazing Microbes

Oral|Dr Hazel Barton

Amazing Caves: Amazing Microbes

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|Mr Paul Taylor

Cave Link- Through the Rock Text Messaging

Oral|Mr Rolf Siegenthaler

Bärenschacht, Switzerland

Field|Mr Mike Bedford

Demonstration of Electronic Equipment for Caving

Oral|Ms Xiumin Zhai

Amplitude and pacing of abrupt climate change: derived from Asian stalagmite records spanning the last 70ka

Field|Mr David Morrison

Field Trip: Dowsing a fresh look at finding Caves

Workshop|Mr Michael Laumanns

Workshop on EuroSpeleo Projects (ESP) - How to get funding from the European Speleological Federation (FSE) for your speleo event/expedition

Oral|Mr Nigel Steel

Caves and photogrammetry

Field|Dr Trevor Faulkner

Field Trip to the caves of Giggleswick Scar and discussion about their speleogenesis

Oral|Miss Laura Deeprose

Caves, climate change and Neanderthals: ongoing palaeoclimate research in Matienzo, northern Spain

Oral|Miss Helen Fairclough

Pester Plateau - A student expedition to Serbia