Meeting Abstract

P1.31  Friday, Jan. 4  Abiotic influences on the distribution and abundance of tropical cave-dwelling Macrobrachium spp. WEISS, A.K.*; PAKES, M.J.; LINDBERG, D.R.; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley ameliakw@berkeley.edu

Our understanding of factors controlling species distributions within tropical cave ecosystems is limited. This study is the first to investigate aquatic macrofauna distributions and abundances in a Panamanian cave system. We surveyed the abundances of varying size classes of shrimp, Macrobrachium spp., as well as their vertebrate and invertebrate predators, along an 864m cave passage. Changes in abiotic characteristics, such as current velocity, water depth, salinity, dissolved oxygen content and substrate type, as well as human traffic, were examined along this transect. Correlations were found between changes in community composition and changes in the physical environment.