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As Biotic factors we intend the biological feeding elements that make life possible in the underground.

Principal Factors

Vegital elements. Dead leafs and logs often fall into caves and brings a lot of feeding for many animals that eat vegitals in decomposition.

Dead animals. Same thing for animals that die in caves or fall in them. Many species live in these dead animals along with carnivorous species that pray those that eat decomposing substances.

Guano. Colonies of bats in caves make a lot of dung, that is deposited on the soil. This is called Guano, and many kinds of small living artropods live in it.

Presence of mammals. In many cases mammals live in holes or in the entrance of caves. There dung, hair and other substances are part of the decomposing elements of the underground.

Clay and other mineral substances. Mineral substances are very important feeding element for organisms.


	Life in caves depends in many ways on that of the outside. It is difficult to immagine an alimentary chain without contibution from the external world. This is an important concept regarding the ecology of cave life, becouse the defilment of outside environment causes unavoidable pollution in the underground.

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