Subterranean systems

Southern Cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus)

Pigeon Mountain Salamander (Plethodon petraeus)

Refreshing swim through Sinking Cove.
(photo by Nick Gladstone)

I'm a lifelong caver and cave conservationist, and this has inevitably led me to think about the origin and maintenance of biodiversity in sensitive and understudied cave environments.

While my questions in cave biology are relatively broad (though always conservation-oriented), caves and cave obligate organisms can be especially useful for questions pertaining to the evolution of life history strategy and physiological function, two consistent themes in my research.

I am currently investigating bioenergetics and thermal performance in sister groups comprised of obligate and facultative cave inhabitants. One primary goal is to better understand the physiological processes that result from or facilitate success in novel environments, with the added challenge of low energy resources and isolation in perpetual darkness.

Nature Conservancy sensitive habitat sign

Representative cave bio publications:

Niemiller ML, ET Carter, DB Fenolio, AG Gluesenkamp, & JG Phillips. (in press) Drivers of subterranean colonization and diversification in cave-dwelling salamanders. In: Cave Life - Drivers of Diversity and Diversification, Wynne, JJ (ed.). NOVA Science Publishers.

Gladstone, NS, ET Carter, KD Kendall-Niemiller, LE Hayter, & ML Niemiller (2018) A new maximum body size record for the Berry Cave Salamander (Gyrinophilus gulolineatus) and genus Gyrinophilus (Caudata: Plethodontidae) with a comment on body size in plethodontid salamanders. Subterranean Biology 28(6): 29-38.

Niemiller ML, ET Carter, LE Hayter, & NS Gladstone (2018) New surveys and reassessment of the conservation status of the Berry Cave Salamander (Gyrinophilus gulolineatus). Technical Report. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 51 pp.

Gladstone, NS, ET Carter, ML McKinney, & ML Niemiller (2018) Status and conservation of the cave-obligate land snails in the Appalachians and Interior Low Plateau of the Eastern United States. American Malacological Bulletin 36(1): 62-78.

Niemiller, ML, KS Zigler, KA Ober, ET Carter, AS Engel, G Moni, & CDR Stephen (2017) Rediscovery and conservation status of six short-range endemic Pseudanophthalmus cave beetles (Carabidae: Trechini). Insect Conservation and Diversity 10(6): 495-501.

Niemiller, ML, KS Zigler, DR Stephen, ET Carter, A Paterson, SL Taylor, & AS Engel (2016) Vertebrate fauna in caves of eastern Tennessee within the Appalachians karst region, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 78(1): 1-24.