Authors: Erika Frandsen
Mentors: C. Riley Nelson
Insitution: Brigham Young University
The Timpanogos Cave System consists of three caves in American Fork, Utah. In 2003, the National Park Service (NPS) commissioned Dr. Riley Nelson and laboratory students to conduct a survey of the diversity and abundance of terrestrial arthropod species found within the caves. Over the two years they sampled in Timpanogos Caves, they identified 55 species of macroinvertebrates in an unpublished report.
In the 20 years since the last sampling, many environmental factors could’ve changed in these caves, contributing to an overall decrease in both abundance and biodiversity of fauna. Therefore, we repeated the sampling done by the Nelson lab in 2003-2004 for the duration of May 2023-October 2023 to compare the two time periods’ macroinvertebrate communities.
The six taxonomic families found most abundantly in 2003-2004 continue to be the most abundant families found in 2023. Additionally, a new taxon of cave beetle Rhadine sp. not found 20 years ago was discovered early in our sampling of 2023. Despite the increase in visitation over the past 20 years, at this stage in the analysis, the macroinvertebrate community within the caves seems to have almost no loss of diversity. Additionally, the appearance of new taxa indicates that there is still more life and diversity within the caves left to discover.