Step-by-step explanation:
Trees or grasses may be growing around the entrance of the cave, and there might possibly be rocks around the side as well.
The most common plants in caves usually grow in the most moist parts and they are:
- Mosses (small flowerless plants that usually grow in dense green clumps or mats, in damp or shady locations)
- Ferns (flowerless plant that has feathery or leafy fronds and reproduces by spores released from the undersides of the fronds. Ferns have a vascular system for the transport of water and nutrients.)
- Liverworts (small flowerless green plant with leaf like stems or lobed leaves, occurring in moist habitats. Liverworts lack true roots and reproduce by means of spores released from capsules.)
These species can live at the entrance zone or in the twilight zone.
If you go into the twilight zone, cyanobacteria (a bacteria that has chlorophyll) causes all the rocks facing the entrance to be a shade of green.
All cave animals and organisms fit into three categories. Placement into these categories depends on how much time the organisms actually spends in the cave.
The first type are known as Trogloxenes. You can think of trogloxenes as cave vistors. They come and go at will, but use the cave for specific parts of their life cycle (hibernation, giving birth, etc.) Although it spends specific parts of their life in the cave, it will never spend a complete life cycle in the cave. Examples of animals that are trogloxenes are:
-Bats
-Bears
-Skunks
-Raccoon
-Moths (sometimes)
Troglophiles are the next level. These are organisms that survive outside the cave, but may prefer to live outside of it. They leave the cave only in search for food. A troglophiles can chose to live its entire life either inside or outside of a cave. Some examples of trogphiles are:
-Beetles
-Worms
-Frogs
-Salamanders
-Crickets
-Spiders
-Crayfish (sometimes)
Troglobites are animals that live in the cave but do not come out. They often have physical adaptions to the cave life like no vision, or loss pigment because light does not reach this part of the cave. Examples would be
-Snails that have thin white shells and small eyes
-Blind cave fish which has no eyes and no color
-Kauai Cave Wolf Spider which also has no eyes.
Bats are not true troglobites because they only use the cave for sleep, hiding and reproduction. There is about 50 000 troglobites in the world.
A bats habitat and niche would be inside of a cave, in the Twilight zone. The twilight zone is located in the middle of the cave, where some sunlight reaches. Because the bats aren’t so far back in the cave they would be able to leave the cave easy at night, in order to catch their prey, but aren’t so close to the front that they can’t sleep during the day because of the sunlight.
One way for food to get into the cave is through natural weather events such as a flood. Excess rainwater washes leaves, twigs, plants, etc. into a cave. This brings in food for insects and other animals. Another way food enters a cave is simply through animals, they bring it in. If times get hard in the cave, the organisms living in it can feed on each other. An example would be listed below which is how some centipedes grow large enough to feed on bats. Another source of food is guano.
