Kathleen H. Lavoie

State University of New York at Plattsburgh | SUNY Plattsburgh · Department of Biological Sciences

Bats can contribute to an increase of aeromycota in underground ecosystems and might be a vector/reservoir of microorganisms, however, there is no information about the number and species composition of fungi around hibernating bats. One of the most common species in Europe with direct human contact is the greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis). T...

A preliminary study of antibiotic production and antibiotic resistance was conducted in Great Onyx Cave in Mammoth Cave National Park, KY, to determine if gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) affects these bacterial activities. The cave crosses through the width of Flint Ridge, and passages under the sandstone caprock are dry with different amounts of gypsum. The G...

Microorganisms are a diverse group of Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryotes with their very small size in common. Microbes make up the majority of organisms in numbers, biomass, and metabolic diversity and are critical component of the biosphere through geochemical cycling. Caves are models for the study of astrobiology: life on other planets. This cha...

Subsurface habitats harbor novel diversity that has received little attention until recently. Accessible subsurface habitats include lava caves around the world that often support extensive microbial mats on ceilings and walls in a range of colors. Little is known about lava cave microbial diversity and how these subsurface mats differ from microbi...

Rarefaction curves by alpha diversity for microbial mats and surface soils. (PDF)

Phylogenetic tree of Actinobacteria by LABE lava cave and surface soil. Approximate maximum likelihood, mid-point rooted tree with pynast aligned 454 sequences. Outer bars show relative proportion of taxa found in cave microbial mats and surface soils. Inner band is colored by genus. (PDF)

Cleveland dot plot of relative abundance of OTUs. Showing major and minor phyla for all cave and surface samples. (PDF)

A team developed the Cave Ecology Inventory and Monitoring Framework for National Park Service (NPS) units. It contains information for NPS cave managers across the United States to determine how to inventory and monitor cave ecology. Due to the wide geographical scope of NPS caves and their many different types, the document does not prescribe exa...

3 Abstract Cave and camel crickets are widely distributed in caves throughout the world, and in North America they make up the bulk of the biomass in many caves. Most caves do not have large populations of bats, so the guano, eggs, and carcasses of these cavernicolous crickets are dependable sources of fixed energy for troglobites (Mohr and Poulson...

Cave and camel crickets are widely distributed in caves throughout the world, and in North America they make up the bulk of the biomass in many caves. Most caves do not have large populations of bats, so the guano, eggs, and carcasses of these cavernicolous crickets are dependable sources of fixed energy for troglobites (Mohr and Poulson, 1966; Bar...

The cavefish Poecilia mexicana, earlier known as Poecilia sphenops, is a live-bearing toothcarp or molly found only in Cueva de las Sardinas (also known as Cueva de Villa Luz or El Azufre), in Tabasco, Mexico. The cave ecosystem is based on mixed energy inputs from sulfur springs and chemolithotrophic baceteria, bats, and skylights. The rich food b...

We report here some factors that affect the relationship between hind femur length (HFL) to crop-empty live weight (CELW) and propose a quantitative, non-lethal measurement ratio that has potential as an index of extent of adaptation to a cavernicolous existence in "crickets". Curvilinear relationships exist between HFL and CELW for camel crickets...

In this article, we provide a review of geomicrobiological interactions in caves, which are nutrient-limited environments containing a variety of redox interfaces. Interactions of cave microorganisms and mineral environments lead to the dissolution of, or pre-cipitation on, host rock and speleothems (secondary mineral formations). Metabolic process...

Earth's subsurface offers one of the best possible sites to search for microbial life and the characteristic lithologies that life leaves behind. The subterrain may be equally valuable for astrobiology. Where surface conditions are particularly hostile, like on Mars, the subsurface may offer the only habitat for extant lifeforms and access to recog...

Caves in the Guadalupe Mountains offer intriguing examples of possible past or present geomicrobiological interactions within features such as corrosion residues, pool fingers, webulites, u-loops, and moonmilk. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, molecular biology techniques, enrichment cultures, bulk chemistry, and X-ra...

From 1971-1994 yearly precipitation, mean minimum winter temperatures and mean maximum summer temperatures were related to species abundances in the cricket guano community. There was a period of unusually favorable conditions in the mid-1970s and a period of unusually unfavorable conditions in the late 1980s. Number of species and abundances of in...

1. 1. Camel crickets in Carlsbad Caverns National Park exhibit linear long-term weight loss patterns for combined sexes of 1.05 mg/hr for Ceuthophilus carlsbadensis, 0.261 mg/hr for C. conicaudus, and 0.321 mg/hr for C. longipes.2. 2. From these patterns, maximal foraging intervals for females and males, respectively, of 5.1 and 4.4 days for C. car...

Monthly collections, fresh and dry weight determinations, and analysis of reproductive components were made of cave crickets Hadenoecus subterraneus and camel crickets Ceuthophilus stygius from caves in or near Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky. from April 1986 to March 1987. Minimal spermatophore frequency (50%) in adult male H. subterraneus occurred...

1. 1. Metabolic rate (MR) and water budget (WB) components of cave and camel crickets are directly related to size and temperature.2. 2. MR increases most rapidly with size for insects in general followed by cave crickets (females > males), and lastly, camel crickets (no sex differences).3. 3. Metabolic thermal sensitivity of cave crickets (males >...

Low-intensity direct current has been reported to be effective in promoting healing of infected wounds, and these results have been assumed to apply to stimulation of wound tissue with monophasic high voltage pulsed current (HVPC). The purpose of this study was to determine whether HVPC has an inhibitory effect on growth in vitro of three bacterial...

1. 1. In early summer, camel crickets in Mammoth Cave National Park exhibit a sex-specific relationship between crop-empty live weight and hind femur length.2. 2. They also exhibit curvilinear long-term weight loss patterns averaging 2.67 and 3.13 mg/hr for females and males, respectively, and caloric assimilation efficiencies of 65.6 and 70.5% for...

1. 1. Studies of cave and camel crickets from cave entrances in Mammoth Cave National Park have produced estimates of total water budgets and component contributions to water balance.2. 2. Weight specific (mg/g crop-free live weight/hr) total water loss (3.200 vs 2.220) and water gained in food (2.393 vs 1.902) are greater in cave than in camel cri...

1. 1. In late spring, cave crickets in Mammoth Cave National Park were investigated in order that their bioenergetics might be elucidated.2. 2. A predictive relation between crop-empty live weight and hind femur length independent of sex was found.3. 3. Long-term weight loss patterns were 1.55 and 1.19mg/hr for females and males, respectively, sugg...

The spent carbide from acetylene-generating lamps used by spelunkers has long been assumed to be toxic. Pure cultures ofE. coli, S. cerevisiae, andB. subtilis were inhibited within 15 minutes by addition of a 1% solution of waste carbide. The heterotrophic microorganisms which form the food base in caves were depressed 81% in 1 hour by the applicat...