Fig 1.
Schematic diagram of steps necessary to establish a culture of wild species to be used in laboratory experiments.
Credit: Iva Čupić, Tin Rožman.
Fig 2.
Photos of selected animals used in our studies, one species per genus.
A. Alpioniscus balthasari. B. Titanethes albus. C. Proasellus karamani. D. Asellus aquaticus. E. Ceacidotea pricei. F Monolistra pretneri. G. Lekanesphaera hookeri. H. Physella sp. Scale bars, 5 mm. Credits: Jana Bedek (a), Mike Slay (e), Tin Rožman (b, c, d, f, g, h).
Table 1.
Summary table for the culturing conditions and maintenance requirements for cave and surface invertebrates that were successfully maintained in laboratory for this study.
Table 2.
Summary table of cave and surface invertebrates that were successfully maintained in laboratory for this study.
We included species that were either breeding or had high survival as adults in laboratory environment. A complete list of all species and sampling sites used in this study with comments on survival and culturing success per site is given in S1 Table. Scores low (L), medium (M), and high (H) for survival of the wild individuals in the lab and for survival of offspring denotes <20%, 20–80% and >80% of individuals surviving, respectively. Frequency of reproduction is defined as >1 or <1 per year.
Fig 3.
Representation of housing used in our studies.
A. Plastic containers used for aquatic animals. B. Plastic containers with bottom made of plaster used for terrestrial animals. C. Plastic containers with a plaster bottom inclined to form a large pool of water optimal for rearing larger semi-aquatic cave trichoniscids. Credit: Iva Čupić.
Fig 4.
A. Food pellets cut into cubes. B. Conditioned leaves packaged in small bags are kept frozen until use. Credit: Tin Rožman.
Fig 5.
Diseases and affected colonies.
A. Aquatic isopod Monolistra radjai with fungal overgrowth. B. Dreissenid bivalve (Congeria sp.) with fungal infestation. C. Physid snail (Physella sp.) with bacterial overgrowth on the shell. D. Physid snail (Physella sp.) with colonies of rotifers on the shell. Credit: Tin Rožman.