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| William Elliott, PhD - photo borrowed from ResearhGate |
Overlooked as critical to human sustainability, karst systems have been neglected and abused, mostly out of simple ignorance of the long-term repercussions. Only in the last 50 years have scientists have come to understand these highly integrated and dependent ecosystems which make serious contributions to all other earth systems. As the natural wastewater treatment facility for the earth, managing the risk to these environments has become top priority for many.
One individual in Missouri has devoted his professional career to better understanding and protecting caves, as well as the diverse biology that inhabits them. William Elliott, Ph.D., Cave biologist of the Missouri Department of Conservation Resource Science Division and the Ozark Underground Laboratory, has made numerous discoveries and significant progress over the past 40 years. He has been at the forefront of data collection, formulation of theory, testing, as well as developing processes and applications that have aided in better understanding and managing the risk associated with caves, and the consequences of the damages by human activities.
Some of his work has demonstrated direct correlation to surface activities, and that these habitats can be preserved with very little effort or alterations to the surrounding surface area. His studies have shown that abuse of surface environment, as far as 100 miles away, can have as profound of an effect on this subterranean world as the incidental damage from a human simply entering the cave.
Most notable are his continuing efforts in working with landowners to understand how they can continue their land use practices, while helping to preserve and defend the subterranean environments. He was worked with others in dye tracing, airflow, underground stream current turbidity, and many other environmental variables to discover the true sources contamination from the surface. Recently, he helped with testing environmental variables inside caves in order to predict where grey bat populations may be located at certain times of the year. The hope is that in discovering a trend, through careful analysis, land use and cave visitation can be planned accordingly to reduce the risks associated with both.
Originally produced for the National Cave and Karst Management Symposium, one of his many works stand out as an excellent example of the type of progress that can be made in this area, with only a tiny bit of effort. Look for this 2005 collaboration with Thomas J. Aley, entitled "Karst Conservation in the Ozarks: Forty Years at Tumbling Creek Cave" on his own website CaveLife.info.
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BI301: Human Ecology
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