PRESENTERS: Tanja Pipan and Nataša Ravbar, ZRC SAZU Karst Research Institute, with Gregor Aljančič, Tular Cave, Slovenia.
New virtual research environments to help preserve the underground Karst caves and that rarity, Proteus anguinus.
Investigating the biodiversity and ecosystems of the underground Karst caves of Postojna is demanding and sometimes dangerous. Karst landscapes act as natural refuges for species that have disappeared elsewhere as a result of hunting and habitat loss. More than 25 percent of the world’s population either lives on or obtains its water from karst aquifers, but human incursions are threatening these vulnerable environments.