Database of Romanian cave invertebrates with a Red List of cave species and a list of hotspot/coldspot caves

The increasing human impact in Romanian caves raises the urgency of
publishing a correct database of the strictly-adapted cave fauna. Previous
attempts at indexing cave fauna and classifying caves by using their fauna
opened many questions regarding the use of an incomplete list of cave
species and mixed lists of troglobionts/stygobionts with
troglophiles/stygophiles for ranking caves with priority for protection.
It has also become obvious that there is a need to publish a list of
Romanian cave species that are under threat. Cave species in Romania (and
elsewhere) are endemic on small ranges, are unique and must be considered
as important units for conservation. A cave must be equally protected if
it has one or more rare and strictly endemic cave species. Although not
exhaustive, we here provide the first checklist of Romanian
troglobionts/stygobionts developed in the framework of the DARKFOOD and
GROUNDWATERISK projects, coordinated by the “Emil Racovita” Institute of
Speleology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The GIS application was used to
complement the checklist of cave species with data on caves and surface
environments above the caves. Until complete data on species diversity and
population sizes are made available for each cave, measures of
conservation can be implemented, based on the presence/absence of cave
species, while classifications of caves for protection, based on the
number of species, must be avoided. We also propose a list of Romanian
caves with fauna that are under threat and a tentative Red List of
Romanian troglobiont/stygobionts. This is the first database with
identified troglobiont and stygobiont species of Romania, with a critical
analysis of their distribution inside the country. A list of caves that
need protection for their rare and unique species and a tentative Red List
of Romanian cave fauna are also added. A total of 173 species were
identified, of which 77 troglobionts and 96 stygobionts are currently
registered in 366 caves. The database is divided into two parts, one part
with a list of troglobionts, their revised systematic position, cave name,
cave code and geographic region; and the second part with the same
information on stygobionts. The database represents the contribution of
many active researchers, who are the authors of this paper and of review
publications of many other authors of the "Emil Racoviță"
Institute of Speleology.