Cave Biology Databases
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Hazelton Records
Cave Research Group of
Great Britain; Biological Records 1938–1976. A fully digital version of the
biological data collected in British and Irish caves between 1938 and 1976 – the
Hazelton records – is now available. It contains 5581 individual records and the
original printed page for each record can be viewed as a pdf image. A paper describing the
database, by by Graham Proudlove and Will Burn can be found in
Cave & Karst Science
47(1).
Cave Biology Database at the UK Cave
Registry. There is a wealth of information on the biology of caves, and other subterranean
habitats, in Great Britain and Ireland. The most valuable information was generated by many cavers
and cave scientists between the 1940s and the 1970s; compiled by Mary Hazelton, Biological
Recorder of the Cave Research Group of Great Britain (CRG); and published (on paper) by the CRG
and the British Cave Research Association (BCRA).
Other Publications of Interest
Essential Sources in
Cave Science. Proudlove, Graham (ed.) (2006). Essential Sources in Cave Science [Cave
Studies Series 16]. Buxton: British Cave Research Association. £4.50 plus postage. ISBN
0-900265-31-0. 56pp, A4, no illustrations.
Subterranean Fishes of the World. An
account of the subterranean (hypogean) fishes with a bibliography from 1436. This online
searchable bibliography is jointly authored by Graham Proudlove and William R. Elliott.
Further Information On This Site
The Jefferson collection of cave fauna. The late
Jeff Jefferson was one of Britain's leading cave biologists. Throughout his life he collected
animals from subterreanean sites and amassed a large collection. This is now housed in the
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, and has been curated and preserved by Julian Carter.
This downloadable file contains a list of the animals in the Jefferson Collection and many other
details.
Bibliography of British subterranean biology. This is a
first attempt to compile a full bibliography of all substantive works relating to the biology of
subterranean habitats in the British Isles. It is a work in progress and is not yet complete. The
current list has over 250 entries from 1853 to 2001.
Obligate subterranean fauna of the British Isles.
Various books and papers published over the past 60 years provide lists of the obligate
subterranean fauna of the British Isles. No two lists provide the same information and it is not
easy to determine which animals are restricted to underground (= hypogean) habitats in these
Islands. I have attempted to draw together these lists to compile a list of all hypogean
species.
Grid co-ordinates converter Many of the individual
records contained within the "Biological Records" provide the 100km grid square details as a two
digit number (e.g. 61/456789) rather than the more modern two letter code (e.g. SD/123456).
