Development of anchialine cave habitats and karst subterranean estuaries since the last ice age.

ABSTRACT: Extinction models generally predict that coastal and neritic fauna benefit during sea-level rise (transgression), whereas sea-level retreat (regression) diminishes their suitable habitat area and promotes evolutionary bottlenecks. Sea-level change also impacts terrestrial island biogeography, but it remains a challenge to evidence how sea-level rise impacts aquatic island biogeography, especially in the subterranean realm. Karst subterranean estuaries (KSEs) occur globally on carbonate islands and platforms, and they are populated by globally-dispersed, ancient ecosystems (termed anchialine). Anchialine fauna currently exhibit a disjunct biogeography that cannot be completely explained by plate tectonic-imposed vicariance. Here we provide evidence that anchialine ecosystems can experience

SUBMITTER: van Hengstum PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6695480 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature