Project: Factors influencing biodiversity in underground habitats from Pianosa Island (CAVERNBIODIV)
May the 6th to the 18th, 2023
Institution:
Emil Racoviţă Institute of Speleology (ERIS), Bucharest (Romania), Romanian Academy
- Partner: Group for Underwater and Speleological Exploration (GESS), Bucharest (Romania)
Team:
1. Alexandra Maria Hillebrand-Voiculescu (PhD, ERIS): PI of the mission; responsible with the microbiological investigation;
2. Raluca Ioana Băncilă (PhD., ERIS): responsible with the invertebrate fauna investigation;
3. Cătălina Haidău (PhD student, ERIS): microbiological investigation;
4. Vlad Nicolae Voiculescu (GESS): technical support.
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The aim of CAVERNBIODIV project is to investigate the diversity of invertebrates and microorganisms of underground (caves/caverns) and surface habitats of a relatively small island in relation to substrate physical-chemical properties, climate variables and anthropogenic impact. The target habitats were sites located inland in pristine and human-disturbed (by agriculture, tourism etc.) locations and caves/caverns excavated in the cliffs/waterfront of the island and abandoned buildings as analogues to underground environments.
Pianosa Island offers all the habitats of interest and moreover, while data on island’s animal biodiversity is lacking, the data we need on climate, land-use and vegetation are available and the island’s size being small, it is easier to monitor how climate and anthropogenic activities impact the island’s ecosystems.
Field work To investigate the diversity of surface invertebrates we set traps1 in the same sites used by our colleagues from the Institute of BioEconomy (Florence, Italy) for long-term monitoring of soil organic carbon content, covering the island’s main habitats2. Soil samples for microbiological and chemical analysis were also collected.
Hare remains and hare and birds’ excrements were also collected for microorganisms’ investigation.
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To study the invertebrates’ communities and the microbiome of underground environments we collected invertebrates, air-borne microorganisms, sediments and walls’ scrap from caves/caverns and abandoned buildings.
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Difficulties encountered
The initially proposed activities were slightly modified according to the field situation. We found that the data available in the literature referring to the caves on Pianosa island do not concord with the field circumstances: most of the accessible caves are not more than 2 m deep and have big entrances, with no different climate than the outside environment. We noticed some more representative excavations in the rocky waterfront but unfortunately, they were not accessible. These sites could only be reached by boat and/or by rope and our permit did not cover these activities. For these reasons, the number of the Petri dishes for air-borne bacteria and fungi is much lower than initially planned. The morphology of the caverns also influenced the number of invertebrates collected from the underground environments.
To compensate this situation, we also focused on abandoned buildings as simulators for underground environments from which we collected air-borne microorganisms and invertebrates. Such buildings were: the former hospital (Sanatorio del Marchese), the former stables and cheese factory (Carcere il Giudice), the Catacombs (Catacombe di Pianosa) and the buildings in the old harbour (Burgo del Porto).
Referring to the surface invertebrates’ investigation, instead of 33 inland sites we only set traps in 16. This is because the 16 sites covered all the habitats existent on the island: shrubs, pine tree forest, pastures and agricultural. For protection/conservative reasons we considered unnecessary to set more traps.
Back in our home laboratory we will identify the invertebrates collected, we will obtain air-borne bacteria and fungi cultures and by means of molecular techniques we will identify the microorganisms (both prokaryotes and eukaryotes) present in the soil samples and on the hare remains and birds/hare excrements.
We will provide:
- an inventory of the species of invertebrates and microorganisms present on Pianosa island’s surface and underground environments;
- a physical-chemical characterisation of the sampling sites, which are distributed all over the island.
Other non-scientific activities performed during the mission Since the Research Station of the National Council of Research on Pianosa Island is in the process of modernisation, Vlad Voiculescu helped by installing all the furniture that we found still in boxes.
Acknowledgments We obtained valuable information from Dr. Marco Doveri, the coordinator of the Pianosa Research Station and his team who gave us a tour of the island at the beginning of our stay on Pianosa. Throughout our mission we were supported by the team from the Institute of BioEconomy (Florence, Italy) 3 who not only provided us with most helpful information but also made our stay extremely pleasant. We also acknowledge dr. Francesco Primo Vaccari and dr. Giorgio Matteucci from the National Research Council of Italy and the Institute of BioEconomy who made this mission possible in spite the inconveniences due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
1 Traps for invertebrates were set in 16 points. In each point three traps were set at a distance of 1m. The traps consisted in jars (10 cm high, Ø5 cm) containing 40 ml of antifreeze (Glacelf classic, Total Lubrifiants, France) as attractant and fixator for invertebrates. Against the rain, they were protected by plastic foil covers situated at a height of 5 cm from the soil. The traps were left for six days.
2 The main habitats of the island are: agricultural, pastures, machis and woodland (pine forest).
3 Dr. Romina Lorenzetti, dr. Gherardo Biancofiore and Francesco Sabatini.