Journal Article
Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA
Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N. Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. and Cressler, A.
Record Number:
4719
Year:
2020
Journal:
Journal of Cave and Karst Studies
Pages:
125-167
Volume:
82
Abstract:
We provide an annotated checklist of species recorded from caves and other subterranean habitats in the state of
Georgia, USA. We report 281 species (228 invertebrates and 53 vertebrates), including 51 troglobionts (cave-obligate
species), from more than 150 sites (caves, springs, and wells). Endemism is high; of the troglobionts, 17 (33 % of those
known from the state) are endemic to Georgia and seven (14 %) are known from a single cave. We identified three
biogeographic clusters of troglobionts. Two clusters are located in the northwestern part of the state, west of Lookout
Mountain in Lookout Valley and east of Lookout Mountain in the Valley and Ridge. In addition, there is a group of troglobionts
found only in the southwestern corner of the state and associated with the Upper Floridan Aquifer. At least
two dozen potentially undescribed species have been collected from caves; clarifying the taxonomic status of these
organisms would improve our understanding of cave biodiversity in the state. Conservation concerns related to species
found in Georgia caves are significant, with fourteen species (including 13 vertebrates) considered “High Priority Species”
under the Georgia State Wildlife Action Plan, many of these species have additional state or federal protections. In
addition, 17 invertebrate troglobionts (33 % of those known in the state) are considered “Critically Imperiled” by Nature-
Serve. Several biologically important caves are not protected, these are an important conservation concern. However,
remarkably, around one third of all caves in the state are on protected lands, including seven of the eight caves known
to host ten or more troglobionts.
Times Cited:
1
Relevent Species:
Related Records:
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Romero, A., Connor, M.S. and Vaughan, G.L. (2010)Population Status of the Southern Cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus in Arkansas
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Niemiller, M.L. and Fitzpatrick, B.M. (2012)Status and life history of the amblyopsid cavefishes in Kentucky
Niemiller, M.L., McCandless, J.R., Reynolds, R.G., Caddle, J., Near, T.J., Tillquist, C.R., Pearson, W.D. and Fitzpatrick, B.M. (2012)Effects of climatic and geological processes during the Pleistocene on the evolutionary history of the Northern Cavefish, Amblyopsis Spelaea (Teleostei: Amblyopsidae)
Niemiller, M.L. and Zigler, K.S. (2013)Patterns of cave biodiversity and endemism in the Appalachians and interior plateau of Tennessee
Niemiller, M.L., Higgs, D.M. and Soares, D. (2013)Evidence for hearing loss in amblyopsid cavefishes
Niemiller, M.L., Fitzpatrick, B.M., Shah, P., Schmitz, L. and Near, T.J. (2013)Evidence for repeated loss of selective constraint in rhodopsin of amblyopsid cavefishes (Teleostei: Amblyopsidae)
Niemiller, M.L. and Fitzpatrick, B.M. (2013)Status, life history, and phylogenetics of amblyopsid cavefishes in Kentucky
Miller, C. (2013)Ecosystem disturbance and recovery in Shelta Cave
Niemiller, M.L., Graening, G.O., Fenolio, D.B., Godwin, J.C., Cooley, J.R., Pearson, W.D., Fitzpatrick, B.M. and Near, T.J. (2013)Doomed before they are described? The need for conservation assessments of cryptic species complexes using an amblyopsid cavefish (Amblyopsidae: Typhlichthys) as a case study
Soares, D. Niemiller, M.L. and Higgs, D. (2014)Review article. Hearing and acoustic communication in cavefishes
Venarsky, M.P., Huntsman, B.M., Huryn, A.D., Benstead, J.P. and Kuhajda, B.R. (2014)Quantitative food web analysis supports the energy‑limitation hypothesis in cave stream ecosystems
Lewis, J.J., Lewis, S. and Nims, P. (2015)Observations on the ecosystem of Hidden River Cave bioinventory: Community cencus and water quality analysis
Niemiller, M.L., Zigler, K.S., Stephen, C.D.R., Carter, E.T., Paterson, A.T., Taylor, S.J. and Engel, A.S. (2016)Vertebrate fauna in caves of eastern tennessee within the Appalachians karst region, USA
Armbruster, J., Niemiller, M.L. and Hart, P.B. (2016)Morphological evolution of the cave-, spring-, and swampfishes of the Amblyopsidae
Niemiller, M.L., Zigler, K.S., Hart, P.B., Kuhajda, B.R., Armbruster, J., Ayala, B.N. and Engel, A.S. (2016)First definitive record of a stygobiotic fish (Percopsiformes, Amblyopsidae, Typhlichthys) from the Appalachians karst region in the eastern United States
Soares, D., Niemiller, M.L. and Higgs, D.M. (2016)Hearing in Cavefishes
Hart, PB (2016)Diversity and conservation of the Southern Cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus
Toomey, R.., Hobbs, H.H. and Olson, R.A. (2017)An orientation to Mammoth Cave and this volume
White, W.B. and White, E.L. (2017)Hydrology and hydrogeology of Mammoth Cave
Poulson, T.L. (2017)Terrestrial cave ecology of the Mammoth Cave region
Helf, K. and Olson, R.A. (2017)Subsurface aquatic ecology of Mammoth Cave
Culver, D.C. and Hobbs, H.H. (2017)Biodiversity of Mammoth Cave
Hobbs, H.H., Olson, R., Winkler, E.G. and Culver, D.C. (2017)Mammoth Cave: A Human and Natural History
Burress, P.B.H., Burress, E.D. and Armbruster, J. (2017)Body shape variation within the Southern Cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus (Percopsiformes: Amblyopsidae)
Malmstrøm, M., Matschiner, M., Tørresen, O.K., Jakobsen K.S. and Jentoft, S. (2017)Whole genome sequencing data and de novo draft assemblies for 66 teleost species
O’Dell, G.A. and George, A.I. (2018)The celebrated black explorer Stephen Bishop and Mammoth Cave: Observations by an English journalist in 1853
Ponta, G.M.L., McGregor, S.W. and Jones, S.W. (2018)Hydrogeological assessment of Key Cave, Lauderdale County, Alabama
Niemiller, M.L., Taylor, S.J., Slay, M.E. and Hobbs, H.H. III (2019)Biodiversity in the United States and Canada
Trimboli, S.R. and Toomey, R.S. (2019)Temperature and reverse-flow patterns of the River Styx, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
Mouser, J. (2019)Examining occurrence, life history, and ecology of cavefishes and cave crayfishes using both traditional and novel approaches
Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N. Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. and Cressler, A. (2020)Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA
Groves, C., White, W. ,White, B., Palmer, A. and Palmer, P. (2020)Karst hydrogeology of Mammoth Cave National Park: Why is the world’s longest known cave here?
Helf, K., Olson, R. and Toomey, R. (2020)Mammoth Cave Ecology
White, W.B. (2020)A blueprint for the assessment of inorganic carbon flow paths in the Great Onyx groundwater basin, Mammoth Cave National Park
Ponta, G.M.L., McGregor, S.W. and Blackwood, R. (2020)Time series hydrologic monitoring within karst aquifers of Key Cave and Cathedral Caverns, Alabama
Ponta, G. (2020)Monitoring karst aquifers in north Alabama for the protection of sensitive aquatic biota
Williams, J., Groves, C. and Bledsoe, L.A. (2020)In-cave tracing to measure discharge in the Great Onyx flow system, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
Adams, G.L., Burr, B.M. and Warren, M.L. (2020)Amblyopsidae: Cavefishes
Hart, P.B., Niemiller, M.L., Burress, E.D., Armbruster, J.W., Ludt, W.B. and Chakrabarty, P. (2020)Cave-adapted evolution in the North American Amblyopsid fishes Inferred using phylogenomics and geometric morphometrics
Holler Jr., C., Mays, J.D., and Niemiller, M.L (2020)The fauna of caves and other subterranean habitats of North Carolina, USA
Soares, D., and Niemiller, M.L. (2020)Variation in cephalic neuromasts surface and cave-dwelling fishes of the family Amblyopsidae
(Teleostei: Percopsiformes)
Niemiller, M.L., Helf, K. and Toomey, R.S. (2021)Mammoth Cave: A hotspot of subterranean biodiversity in the United States
Bledsoe, L.A., Groves, C. and Toomey, R. (2021)The Mammoth Cave National Park world heritage site
Mouser, J.B., Brewer, S.K., Niemiller, M.L., Mollenhauer, R. and Van Den Bussche, R.A. (2021)Refining sampling protocols for cavefishes and cave crayfishes to account for environmental variation
Mouser, J. (2022)Lithology and disturbance drive cavefish and cave crayfish occurrence in the Ozark Highlands ecoregion
Dooley, K.E., Niemiller, K.D.K., Sturm, N. and Niemiller, M.L. (2022)Rediscovery and phylogenetic analysis of the Shelta Cave Crayfish (Orconectes sheltae Cooper and Cooper, 1997), a decapod (Decapoda, Cambaridae) endemic to Shelta Cave in northern Alabama, USA
Flack, A. (2022)Dark degenerations: Life, light, and transformation beneath the Earth, 1840–circa 1900
Mouser, J.B., Brewer, S.K., Niemiller, M.L., Mollenhauer, R. and Van Den Bussche, R.A. (2022)Lithology and disturbance drive cavefish and cave crayfish occurrence in the Ozark Highlands ecoregion
Niemiller, M.L., Slay, M.E., Inebnit, T., Miller, B., Tobin, B., Cramphorn, B., Hinkle, A., Jones, B.D., Mann, N., Niemiller, K.D.K. and Pitts, S. (2023)Fern Cave: A hotspot of subterranean biodiversity in the Interior Low Plateau karst region of Alabama in the southeastern United States
Niemiller, M.L., Zigler, K.S., Hinkle, A., Stephen, C.D.R., Cramphorn, B., Higgs, J. Mann, N., Miller, B.T., Niemiller, K.D.K., Smallwood, K. and Hardy, J. (2023)The Crystal-Wonder cave system: A new hotspot of subterranean biodiversity in the southern Cumberland Plateau of south-central Tennessee, USA
McAllister, C.T., Fenolio, D.B., Slay, M.E., and Cloutman, D.G. (2023)First parasites (Cnidaria: Myxobolidae; Trematoda:Digenea: Clinostomidae) reported from the threatened Ozark Cavefish, Troglichthys rosae (Percopsiformes:Amblyopsidae), from Arkansas, U.S.A., with a summary of the parasites of North American cavefishes
Cecil, M. (2023)Hydrological dynamics of surface-groundwater interactions between major springs of Mammoth Cave and the Green River, Kentucky, USA
Hart, P.B., Niemiller, M.L., Armbruster, J.W. and Chakrabarty, P. (2023)Conservation implications for the world’s most widely distributed cavefish species complex based on population genomics (Typhlichthys, Percopsiformes)