Biospeleology Photographs

Biospeleology is the study of cave biology and its many aspects, such as ecology, taxonomy, biogeography, genetics, evolution, behavior, microbiology, environmental studies, and others.

Scientists classify animals and insects found in caves according to how much of their life-cycles they spend in the total darkness of a cave or other underground environments.

• A trogloxene uses caves as shelter or food sources, but does not live in them all the time (e.g. bats).
• A troglobite lives entirely within the cave environment and has adapted to it, with long legs or feelers, no or underdeveloped eyes, and a lack of pigment, making some of them look almost transparent.
• A troglophile lives completely within a cave, but can also survive above ground because it usually maintains some of its vision and partial pigmentation.
• Stygofauna live in groundwater systems or aquifers.