The book ‘Cave Ecology’ has recently been published – https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/2357751. The MD Stuart Halse is one of the editors of the book and penned two chapters. Brief introductions to these chapters are provided below:
Chapter 20 – Research in Calcretes and Other Deep Subterranean Habitats Outside Caves
The outstanding difference between traditional subterranean fauna studies and those carried out recently in Australia is the emphasis in Australia on the fauna outside caves within the network of small cavities that occur deep underground across large parts of the landscape. Much of the arid zone, especially in the western half of Australia, is rich in subterranean fauna. Despite the ancient age
of the land mass in which many species occur, it appears that most of the species (or at least the lineages from which they have evolved) moved underground during the past 15 million years seeking moisture as the Australian continent moved north and became increasingly arid (Byrne et al. 2008).
Chapter 23 – Conservation and Impact Assessment of Subterranean Fauna in Australia
This chapter examines some of the difficulties encountered when trying to protect subterranean species occurring in the broad landscape, rather than in caves, in Western Australia. We refer to these species as landscape subterranean fauna. A particular focus of the chapter is the protection of landscape subterranean fauna in areas outside nature reserves in situations where land development is likely (e.g. Henle et al. 2008), particularly as part of the environmental impact assessment process. Assessments usually deal with mining and water supply developments (e.g. Sheppard et al. 2009; Mudd 2010).