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In this paper we focus on some edaphic macroinvertebrates, Oniscidea, Diplopoda, Chilopoda and Symphyla, and their activity-density in relation with a short-term sampling protocol and a series of environmental factors. Our case study targeted the invertebrate community from Ivăneţu Massif near the Rupestral Assembly of Bozioru Mountains and tested the performance of direct sampling using tweezers, sifting leaf-litter with the Winkler sieve, extracting soil samples and using pitfall traps. In order to achieve a more realistic understanding of oniscidean and myriapod diversity patterns we recommend a combination of the abovementioned sampling methods.

Phenotypic plasticity has been proposed as a mechanism facilitating the colonisation and adaptation to novel environments, such as caves. However, phenotypic plasticity in subterranean environments remains largely unexplored. Here, we test for plasticity in growth and development of fire salamander larvae (Salamandra salamandra) from subterranean and surface habitats, in response to contrasting food availability and light conditions. We hypothesized that: (i) low food availability and absence of light decrease larval growth and delay metamorphosis, (ii) light conditions mediate the effects of food availability on growth and time to metamorphosis, and (iii) larval response to contrasting light and food conditions is shaped by the habitat of origin. Our study showed that reduced food availability significantly delayed metamorphosis and slowed total length and body mass growth rates, while exposure to constant darkness slowed body mass growth rate. However, larvae slowed growth rates and increased time to metamorphosis without compromising size at metamorphosis. The effect of food availability on growth and time to metamorphosis did not change under different light conditions. Fire salamanders from subterranean and surface habitats responded differently only in relation to contrasting food availability conditions. Specifically, larvae from the surface habitat grew faster in high food conditions, while growth in larvae from the subterranean habitat was not influenced by food availability. Initial size also appeared to be an influential factor, since larger and heavier larvae grew slower, metamorphosed faster, and the size advantage was maintained in newly-metamorphosed juveniles. Overall, the results of our experiment suggest that plasticity and local adaptation favor the exploitation of aquatic subterranean habitats for breeding by fire salamanders, allowing successful development even under food shortage and day-length constraints, without compromising metamorphic size. Our findings have implications for conservation because they confirm that phenotypic plasticity plays a critical role in allowing fire salamanders to overcome altered environmental conditions.

Located in central Greece, Melissotrypa Cave is a hypogenic cave that contains a sulfidic lake. Biological investigations in this cave led to the discovery of several endemic troglobitic invertebrates, some of which occur in high densities of up to 200 specimens per square meter

The faunal diversity and distributional pattern of species of Coleoptera in the Carpathians is fragmentarily and disproportionally known, the Buzau Mountains being one of the very poorly investigated geographic area, from coleopterological point of view

The Mehedinţi Plateau represents an area highly marked by the intensity of the karst processes and by the diversity of the exokarst and endokarst features. The analyzed area includes two parallel limestone bars, developed on the Carpathian structures direction (NNE-SSW). In addition to the results obtained following the EPIK method protocol, we bring forward data concerning the water quality, performing hydrogeochemical analyses on water samples collected from the main sources in the region

Most soil and leaf litter invertebrates lack efficient inventory methods. We evaluated the efficiency of the pitfall traps (or Barber method) and Winkler extractor (or Winkler method) in a beech forest on limestone in southwestern Romania using harvestmen (Arachnida: Opilionidae) as target group. The aim was to test if the relative abundance, species richness and species composition differ between the two methods

Nineteen species of amphibians inhabit Romania, 9 of which reach their range limit on this territory. Based on published occurrence reports, museum collections and our own data we compiled a national database of amphibian occurrences. We georeferenced 26779 amphibian species occurrences, and performed an analysis of their spatial patterns, checking for hotspots and patterns of species richness. The results of spatial statistic analyses supported the idea of a biased sampling for Romania, with clear hotspots of increased sampling efforts. The sampling effort is biased towards species with high detectability, protected areas, and large cities. Future sampling efforts should be focused mostly on species with a high rarity score in order to accurately map their range. Our results are an important step in achieving the long-term goals of increasing the efficiency of conservation efforts and evaluating the species range shifts under climate change scenarios.