Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas, Av. Lourival Melo Mota, s/n, Tabuleiro do Martins, Maceió, AL 57072-900, Brazil.
Conserv Biol. 2012 Dec;26(6):978-82. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01936.x. Epub 2012 Sep 24.
The term hot cave is used to describe some subterranean chambers in the Neotropics that are characterized by constantly high ambient temperatures generated by the body heat of high densities of certain bat species. Many of these species have limited geographic ranges, and some occur only in the hot-cave environment. In addition to the bats, the stable microclimate and abundant bat guano provides refuge and food for a high diversity of invertebrates. Hot caves have so far been described in the Caribbean and in a few isolated locations from Mexico to Brazil, although there is some evidence that similar caves may be present throughout the tropics. The existing literature suggests these poorly known ecosystems, with their unique combination of geomorphology and bat-generated microclimate, are particularly sensitive to disturbance and face multiple threats from urbanization, agricultural development, mining, and tourism.
热洞这一术语用于描述一些位于新热带地区的地下洞穴，这些洞穴的特点是由于某些蝙蝠物种高密度产生的体热而导致环境温度持续偏高。这些物种中的许多具有有限的地理分布范围，有些仅存在于热洞环境中。除了蝙蝠之外，稳定的小气候和丰富的蝙蝠粪便为大量无脊椎动物提供了庇护所和食物。到目前为止，加勒比地区和从墨西哥到巴西的一些孤立地点都有热洞的描述，尽管有一些证据表明，类似的洞穴可能存在于整个热带地区。现有文献表明，这些鲜为人知的生态系统，其独特的地貌和蝙蝠产生的小气候组合，对干扰特别敏感，面临着城市化、农业发展、采矿和旅游业等多种威胁。
