Book review: Cave Biodiversity: Speciation and Diversity of Subterranean Fauna, by J Judson Wynne (author and editor)

Jon Trevelyan (UK)

This is something of a departure for me, as this book is really about biodiversity rather than geology. However, you won’t be surprised to learn that this book certainly does involve geology, as its context is locations from large caves to small gaps in ground. And given that, for example, bio-stratigraphy involves evolution and extinction, this book really covers both in the raw – and these are all things that geologist and palaeontologists are involved with all the time.

However, it is quite a difficult academic book, but is well worth persevering with, as it covers a topic that most of us know very little about. As the blurb states, this is a:

A deep-dive into the evolutionary biology, biogeography, and conservation of the most elusive subterranean creatures in the world.“

From my point of view, I suppose there two things that strike me most from my reading of the book. Firstly, caves and the like host some of the most weird, wonderful and biodiverse natural systems in the world; and secondly, they are some of the least explored terrestrial habitats, which in itself, is a major contribution to the inevitable misconceptions about their environments and fauna.

As for that fauna, the range that’s present in caves is greater than you would imagine. Obviously, there are both vertebrates and invertebrates, but these include molluscs, fishes, amphibians, arthropods, and other animal species that are strictly tied to underground habitats.

And for this reason, the book brings together a wide range of scientists, including ichthyologists, entomologists, ecologists, herpetologists and conservationists, who provide a nuanced picture of life beneath the earth’s surface – a truly multidisciplinary approach.

As I imply above, each chapter is written by different contributors, who cover a range of things, including:

• The influence of the physical environment on terrestrial cave diversity.
• Evolutionary models influencing subterranean speciation.
• The biology and ecology of subterranean molluscs.
• The subterranean carrion beetles in Italy.
• Cave ground beetle radiation and biogeography in Eastern North America.
• Subterranean colonisation and diversification of cave-dwelling salamanders.
• And the diversity, distribution and conservation of cavefishes in China.

And extremely importantly, considerations for conservation of these fascinating, bizarre, and highly sensitive subterranean creatures are emphasised throughout its pages. This is especially by the editor (and contributor) J Judson Wynne, who is an assistant research professor of cave ecology at Northern Arizona University.

Therefore, I would thoroughly recommend this book as something slightly different, for those who are interested in the natural world and how it is affected by a certain type of geology.

Cave Biodiversity: Speciation and Diversity of Subterranean Fauna, by J. Judson Wynne (Author, Editor), Johns Hopkins University Press (2023), 336 pages (Hardcover), ISBN: 978-1421444574.