Cavern inhabitants are also identified by the surface area they occupy in a cavern, whether it be on the ceiling, walls or floor. Different animals inhabit different areas. This is known as stratification.
Identifying animals by stratisphere and zone is known as segregation. This segregation creates small communities of animals throughout a cavern system. A chart is helpful to compare how animals are divided according to stratification and zonation to form a community. An example chart is shown below.
|
ENTRANCE |
TWILIGHT |
DARK |
| CEILING |
mosquitoes
moths |
flies
spiders |
bats
cavern crickets |
| WALLS |
centipedes
birds |
salamanders
millipedes |
harvestment
millipedes |
| FLOOR |
rats
bears |
flatworms
snails |
beetles
fish |
All of the Sierra Nevada Recreation Corporation caverns exhibit some cavern life. However, none of them are heavily populated, and what life there is, is rarely seen. Because of their horizontal entrances, Boyden and California Cavern get occasional visits from bats. However, there are no bat colonies that make these caverns their home. All three caverns have frogs that find their way in from time-to-time. Insect life, though infrequent is the main variety of cave life to be found at the three caverns.
Experiments & Activities
Grades K – 4 “Who Lives Where”
Ahead of time, find suitable rocks outside that can be easily overturned.
Divide the students into small groups. Taking them outside, have each group turn over a rock and be prepared to immediately watch what types of bugs scurry away and where they go. Also note what else is found under the rock. After studying the animal life, have the students think about why the bugs live under the rock (dark, cool, moist) and compare these to living conditions to those in a cavern. Explain that many of the bugs they have been watching (and others of their species) can and do live quite comfortably in a cavern.
