Aubrecht R., Barrio-Amorós C.L., Breure A.S.H., Brewer-Carías C., Derka T., Fuentes-Ramos O.A., Gregor M., Kodada J., Kováčik Ľ., Lánczos T., Lee N.M., Liščák P., Schlögl J., Šmída B. & Vlček L., 2012: Venezuelan tepuis: their caves and biota. Acta Geologica Slovaca – Monograph, Comenius University, Bratislava, 168 s.

Venezuelan tepui – their caves and biota

Aubrecht Roman, Cesar Barrio-Amorós, Abraham Breure, Charles Brewer-Carías, Tomáš Derka, Oswaldo A. Fuentes-Ramos, Miloš Gregor, Ján Kodada, Ľubomír Kováčik, Tomáš Lánczos, Natuschka M. Lee, Pavel Liščák, Ján Schlögl, Branislav Šmída & Lukáš Vlček

Preface

The world at the top of the tepuis of Venezuela is amazing. Ever since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote “The Lost World”, the enigma of the South American steep and isolated table-mountains have attracted many people. Everyone in our research team dreamt about exploring these “blank spaces on the map”. However, despite this great attraction, scientific literature concerning tepuis has remained rather scarce. We are therefore proud to present this scientific monograph on tepuis, which is considered to be only the second issue of its kind, following the work of Huber (1992). This volume summarizes the main scientific results of expeditions to these tepuis between 2002 and 2011. The major research described in this monograph is dedicated to the great caves discovered in Roraima and Churí tepuis. The geological research was accompanied by biological research on cave and surface fauna, with a special focus on malacofauna, herpetofauna and insects. Although some of the data from this research has been previously published in scientific articles, it did not always obtain the justifiable space to present all gathered documentation and to elucidate all relevant scientific problems from a greater perspective. It is therefore our great pleasure to present this monograph containing detailed information on all research currently performed by our interdisciplinary research team. This is accompanied by a large number of fascinating photographs and several informative maps and diagrams. The greatest benefits to be gained from this combined monograph compared to short scientific publications is that more space is available to discuss currently unresolved problems, to ponder new intriguing questions and to envisage future necessary research. It is our sincere hope that all our readers will appreciate the unique information presented in this manner, and we hope you will really enjoy this monograph and find interesting topics for your research.

High quality, 159 MB