engleski

The Vjetrenica cave (Bosnia & Herzegovina) – one of the world’s most prominent biodiversity hotspots for cave-dwelling fauna

Vjetrenica is a complex cave, with 7, 013.90 m in total length, the biggest cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) with numerous water fl ows and lakes. The cave is located in the southern part of the Dinaric Karst between Popovo Polje (East Herzegovina) and Dubrovnik seaside (Adriatic Sea, Croatia). It belongs to the Trebišnjica River system, the longest sinking river in Europe. The region is characterized by intense tectonic and geodynamic activities, high purity of carbonate and 2, 000 mm annual rainfall. Since 1950 the cave is protected by law as a geomorphological nature monument and since 1985 as a special geological reserve. In 1964 it was arranged and opened to tourists. The Vjetrenica Cave was fi rst mentioned in Historia naturalis (77 AD) by Pliny the Elder, wherein its hygropetric habitat was described here for the fi rst time by Absolon (1916) and Remy (1940). A new period of intensive researches started in 2000, initiating ecological and topographic surveys of the cave. Since 2005 permanent topoclimate monitoring stations have been installed in the cave. By the end of 2009, 219 taxa were detected in Vjetrenica: 37 protists and 182 animals, with 101 cave-dwelling taxa: 49 troglobitic and 52 stygobitic. Vjetrenica is one of the world’s most prominent biodiversity hotspots for cave-dwelling fauna: Turbellaria (5), Hydrozoa (1), Gastropoda (12), Bivalvia (1), Nemertina (1), Polychaeta (1), Oligochaeta (6), Hirudinea (1), Palpigradi (1), Araneae (6), Opiliones (2), Pseudoscorpiones (3), Copepoda (6), Ostracoda (4), Decapoda (4), Isopoda (7), Amphipoda (12), Chilopoda (2), Diplopoda (5), Collembola (4), Diplura (1), Thysanura (1), Coleoptera (14), Vertebrata (1). Vjetrenica, together with Lukavac spring and Bjelušica Cave, as parts of its system, is a type locality for 38 taxa, from which 14 are strictly endemic, and genera are 3 monotypic: Zavalia vjetrenicae (Gastropoda), Troglomysis vjetrenicensis (Crustacea) and Nauticiella stygivaga (Coleoptera). Some groups have still not been researched or determined (Nematoda, Oligochaeta, Thysanura). Vjetrenica is seriously endangered due to completely modifi ed hydrology, highway construction, intensive agriculture, waste management, local quarrying, inappropriate tourism arrangements and lack of national conservation measures in B&H. It will also be necessary to protect the entire drainage area and introduce sustainable cave management.

cave fauna; biodiversity; Bosnia & Herzegovina; threat

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