Cave Life: Creatures That Lurk in the Shadows
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Wildlife".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2026 | Viewed by 924
Editors
Interests: arachnida; subterranean fauna; conservation; morphology; taxonomy
Interests: subterranean fauna; conservation; behavior; morphology; taxonomy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cave environments represent some of the most enigmatic ecosystems on the planet. Isolated from sunlight and often with limited resources, caves are home to highly specialized organisms adapted to permanent darkness, constant humidity, and nutrient scarcity. Studying cave fauna is relevant to the conservation of subterranean habitats.
We are pleased to invite you to submit scientific articles to this Special Issue addressing various aspects of subterranean life, with an emphasis on creatures that inhabit caves.
This Special Issue aims to bring together work that will expand our knowledge of biological diversity, ecological and evolutionary processes, and the challenges around preserving organisms that inhabit caves. Interdisciplinary research and innovative approaches are especially encouraged.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Zoology;
- Cave ecology;
- Physiology of subterranean fauna;
- Adaptive evolution;
- Biogeography;
- Conservation of hypogeal environments.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Jonas Eduardo Gallão
Dr. Maria Elina Bichuette
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- subterranean fauna
- conservation
- behavior
- morphology
- taxonomy
- physiology
- evolution
- troglobites
- troglophiles
- trogloxenes
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