Encyclopedia of Caves, Third Edition, provides detailed background information to anyone with a serious interest in caves. This includes students, both undergraduate and graduate, in the earth, biological and environmental sciences, and consultants, environmental scientists, land managers and government agency staff whose work requires them to know something about caves and the biota that inhabit them. Caves touch on many scientific interests in geology, climate science, biology, hydrology, archaeology, and paleontology, as well as more popular interests in sport caving and cave exploration. Case studies and descriptions of specific caves selected for their special features and public interest are also included.
This book will appeal to these audiences by providing in-depth essays written by expert authors chosen for their expertise in their assigned subject.
Culver, David C.: - David C. Culver received his BA from Grinnell College and his PhD from Yale University. He is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science at American University. He has studied the ecology, evolution, biogeography, and biodiversity of the subterranean fauna for five decades and has published more than 120 papers in refereed journals, and authored or co-authored four books, two with Tanja Pipan. His studies of the subterranean fauna have taken him to more than 20 countries. He was co-editor with William B. White of the first two editions of the Encyclopedia of Caves.
Pipan, Tanja: - Tanja Pipan received her PhD in biology from the University of Ljubljana. She is currently Research Advisor at the Karst Research Institute, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) and Professor of Biology at the University of Nova Gorica. She has broad research interests in subterranean biology, especially biodiversity, biogeography, ecology of shallow subterranean habitats, and ecosystem function. She has extensive experience with a variety of Slovenian subterranean habitats and has done the most extensive ecological study to date of the very rich fauna found in the epikarst. Since 2011 she is an associate editor of the Journal of Speleology for the field of biospeleology. She has travelled extensively in her study of the epikarst and other subsurface habitats.
White, William B.: - William B. White is Professor Emeritus of Geochemistry at The Pennsylvania State University. He holds a BS degree in chemistry from Juniata College (Huntingdon, PA) and a PhD in geochemistry from Penn State. His 40-year teaching career included a course in the geology of caves and karst. His research has produced 446 technical papers of which 131 deal with aspects of caves and karst. He is author or co-editor of 7 cave-related books including the first two editions of the Encyclopedia of Caves. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Speleological Society, and the Mineralogical Society of America.
