The impact of pollution on aquatic invertebrates within a subterranean ecosystem - out of sight out of mind

Pollution within a subterranean ecosystem caused gross staining of stream passages within a cave, although no visible impact was observed outside of the system. The source of the pollutant was identified in the surface catchment using water tracing experiments, and the direction and destination of water and pollutants within subterranean passages determined. Impacted sites and control sites were identified within the cave and compared to pre-disturbance data for the impacted cave and an adjacent system. The abundance and diversity of invertebrate taxa at impacted sites, downstream of the pollutant source, were significantly lower than in the pre-disturbance community and unaffected control sites.