Gallery: Cave and Karst Maps
Study Overview Maps and Foundational Datasets
Overview maps for the Classification and Mapping of Cave and Karst Resources within the Appalachian region.
Land Use and Potential Risk Maps
This folder contains maps of land use and potential risk.
Modeling Input Maps
Since there were too many species (710) or even genera (131) to analyze within the scope of this project, a functional ecological approach was utilized. The ranges of nine ecological groups were analyzed, including; predaceous ground beetles, millipedes, pseudoscorpions, springtails, spiders, amphipods, isopods (Asellidae), crayfish, and fish. Collectively, they are the best studied and most abundant stygobionts and troglobionts. Species within each group have very similar ecological roles, so interesting generalities should emerge about the conditions under which they are found. The number of species in each group ranges from 164 (beetles) to four (fish).
Probability of Presence by Species Group
Prediction maps for each of the nine groups. These are potentially important both to predict areas where to find particular groups and to determine regions of overall high habitat quality where species richness is expected to be high.
Bat Records by County
The utilization of caves by bats is quite different from other cave dwelling species. No bat spends its entire life in a cave, and during the summer, those species that roost leave at night to forage for food, primarily insects. Some species also hibernate in caves, and overall there is a varying degree of dependency on caves as a physical habitat. Many species are also found in mines, because some mines and caves are very similar habitats to bats. In the study area, there are ten species of bats that depend on caves and mines. This folder contains maps of the county scale distribution of bat species (a total of 10) which were considered.
