Acadian biospeleology: composition and ecology of cave fauna of Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick, Canada.

The vertebrate and invertebrate fauna, environment and habitats of caves and disused mines in Nova Scotia and southern NewBrunswick are provisionally catalogued and described, based on field collections made over many years. The area was glaciatedand the subterranean fauna consists of non-troglobites all of which have arrived and colonised the caves during or following finalrecession of the Pleistocene glaciers. The statistical composition of the fauna at the higher taxonomic level is similar to that inOntario, but is less species rich and there are some notable ecological and other differences. Porcupine dung accumulations are animportant habitat in the region, constituting a cold-temperate analogue of the diverse guano habitats of southern and tropical caves.Parietal assemblages are, as in other cold temperate regions, an important component of the invertebrate fauna but here includespecies derived directly from dung communities: another parallel with tropical guano caves. An unanticipated finding is the numberof non-indigenous species now utilising local caves. These appear to have colonised unfilled ecological niches, suggesting thatpost-glacial recolonisation of the subterranean habitat in Nova Scotia has been relatively delayed. Finally the general and regionalsignificance of the subterranean fauna is briefly discussed.