Strategies for monitoring and conservation of troglobitic endemic fauna in some subterranean sites od Sardinia

From the biogeographic and biospeleological points of view, the subterranean fauna of Sardinia is one of the most interesting in the Mediterranean area: very rich in taxa, mostly endemic and highly specialised, it is apparently well known and currently investigated. Nevertheless, the amount of unexpected discoveries is still increasing every year. In the present thesis, at first, owing to the general low interest of the public for the protection of invertebrate endemic, troglobitic organisms, we have selected among the endemic vertebrate species protected by European, national and regional laws, those that should be helpful - as “Umbrella Species” – for the conservation of this very important natural heritage. The choice of the genus Speleomantes (Amphibia, Plethodontidae) showed how many endemic organisms could be protected with the conservation of the karst areas where these Amphibians are present (in particular, in Sulcis-Iglesiente and Nuorese areas). The second phase consisted in the study of larval morphology and natural history of some species of troglobitic beetles. Their larvae, in fact, seem to be much more vulnerable than adults to the anthropogenic impact in caves. Finally, the yearly temperature variations in Bue Marino cave (Dorgali, Eastern Sardinia), the most visited show cave in Sardinia, have been monitored with the aim of increasing our knowledge of the touristic impact on subterranean animal species. During the samplings in the field, several troglobitic organisms, new for the Science, or never previously reported from some caves, have been discovered and in part described, showing how scarce is our knowledge of the subterranean Biodiversity in the island, compared with the real potential of the Sardinian karst.