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Sulfidic Habitats in the Gypsum Karst System of Monte Conca (Italy) Host a Chemoautotrophically Supported Invertebrate Community

The great diversity of the invertebrate community thriving in the deepest sections of the gypsum karst system of the Monte Conca sinkhole (Sicily, Italy) suggests the existence of a complex food web associated with a sulfidic pool and chemoautotrophic microbial activity. To shed light on the peculia...

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Autores principales: Nicolosi, Giuseppe, Galdenzi, Sandro, Messina, Maria Anna, Miller, Ana Z., Petralia, Salvatore, Sarbu, Serban M., Isaia, Marco
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8910289/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35270363
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052671
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author Nicolosi, Giuseppe
Galdenzi, Sandro
Messina, Maria Anna
Miller, Ana Z.
Petralia, Salvatore
Sarbu, Serban M.
Isaia, Marco
author_facet Nicolosi, Giuseppe
Galdenzi, Sandro
Messina, Maria Anna
Miller, Ana Z.
Petralia, Salvatore
Sarbu, Serban M.
Isaia, Marco
author_sort Nicolosi, Giuseppe
collection PubMed
description The great diversity of the invertebrate community thriving in the deepest sections of the gypsum karst system of the Monte Conca sinkhole (Sicily, Italy) suggests the existence of a complex food web associated with a sulfidic pool and chemoautotrophic microbial activity. To shed light on the peculiarity of this biological assemblage, we investigated the species composition of the invertebrate community and surveyed trophic interactions by stable isotope analysis. The faunal investigation conducted by visual censuses and hand sampling methods led to the discovery of a structured biological assemblage composed of both subterranean specialized and non-specialized species, encompassing all trophic levels. The community was remarkably diverse in the sulfidic habitat and differed from other non-sulfidic habitats within the cave in terms of stable isotope ratios. This pattern suggests the presence of a significant chemoautotrophic support by the microbial communities to the local food web, especially during the dry season when the organic input from the surface is minimal. However, when large volumes of water enter the cave due to local agricultural activities (i.e., irrigation) or extreme precipitation events, the sulfidic habitat of the cave is flooded, inhibiting the local autotrophic production and threatening the conservation of the entire ecosystem.
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spelling pubmed-89102892022-03-11 Sulfidic Habitats in the Gypsum Karst System of Monte Conca (Italy) Host a Chemoautotrophically Supported Invertebrate Community Nicolosi, Giuseppe Galdenzi, Sandro Messina, Maria Anna Miller, Ana Z. Petralia, Salvatore Sarbu, Serban M. Isaia, Marco Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The great diversity of the invertebrate community thriving in the deepest sections of the gypsum karst system of the Monte Conca sinkhole (Sicily, Italy) suggests the existence of a complex food web associated with a sulfidic pool and chemoautotrophic microbial activity. To shed light on the peculiarity of this biological assemblage, we investigated the species composition of the invertebrate community and surveyed trophic interactions by stable isotope analysis. The faunal investigation conducted by visual censuses and hand sampling methods led to the discovery of a structured biological assemblage composed of both subterranean specialized and non-specialized species, encompassing all trophic levels. The community was remarkably diverse in the sulfidic habitat and differed from other non-sulfidic habitats within the cave in terms of stable isotope ratios. This pattern suggests the presence of a significant chemoautotrophic support by the microbial communities to the local food web, especially during the dry season when the organic input from the surface is minimal. However, when large volumes of water enter the cave due to local agricultural activities (i.e., irrigation) or extreme precipitation events, the sulfidic habitat of the cave is flooded, inhibiting the local autotrophic production and threatening the conservation of the entire ecosystem. MDPI 2022-02-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8910289/ /pubmed/35270363 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052671 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Nicolosi, Giuseppe
Galdenzi, Sandro
Messina, Maria Anna
Miller, Ana Z.
Petralia, Salvatore
Sarbu, Serban M.
Isaia, Marco
Sulfidic Habitats in the Gypsum Karst System of Monte Conca (Italy) Host a Chemoautotrophically Supported Invertebrate Community
title Sulfidic Habitats in the Gypsum Karst System of Monte Conca (Italy) Host a Chemoautotrophically Supported Invertebrate Community
title_full Sulfidic Habitats in the Gypsum Karst System of Monte Conca (Italy) Host a Chemoautotrophically Supported Invertebrate Community
title_fullStr Sulfidic Habitats in the Gypsum Karst System of Monte Conca (Italy) Host a Chemoautotrophically Supported Invertebrate Community
title_full_unstemmed Sulfidic Habitats in the Gypsum Karst System of Monte Conca (Italy) Host a Chemoautotrophically Supported Invertebrate Community
title_short Sulfidic Habitats in the Gypsum Karst System of Monte Conca (Italy) Host a Chemoautotrophically Supported Invertebrate Community
title_sort sulfidic habitats in the gypsum karst system of monte conca (italy) host a chemoautotrophically supported invertebrate community
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8910289/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35270363
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052671
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