Lifestyles
The cave environment offers very little in the way of food. The trick in underground life is energy saving, so the best adapted organisms are those that need less energy to reproduce and live. For this reason, most of the cave inhabitants have very slow metabolisms: slow growth, small dimensions, a long life cycle, they are slow and don’t move very much, sexual maturation occurs very slowly and very often they maintain the typical characteristics from their youth, they reproduce very little, they are satisfied with minimum quantities of food and normally they use very little oxygen.
Since there is no night and day, their life rhythms aren’t based on the usual 24-hour cycle such as other organisms that live under the sun. Because of the scarce food sources, that depend on autotrophic bacteria and the rare supplies coming from the outside, the hypogeous environment can give hospitality only to a very reduced number of species each made up by few individuals: so caves aren’t very crowded and have a few predators, which means it is a safe and protected place.
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From the Multimedia section
Facts
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Can you breathe in a cave?
One of the most common beliefs is that in caves the air is often stuffy...
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And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
The climate underground
Going down deep in the Earth’s crust, the temperatures increase gradually...
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Volcanic activity of Vesuvio
One of the most famous volcanic disasters was the eruption of Vesuvio in 79 A.D....
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Can you breathe in a cave?
One of the most common beliefs is that in caves the air is often stuffy...
-
24 February 2011
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
13 May 2011
The climate underground
Going down deep in the Earth’s crust, the temperatures increase gradually...
-
Can you breathe in a cave?
One of the most common beliefs is that in caves the air is often stuffy...