George Town, Grand Cayman– In May Dr.
David Bass, professor and aquatic invertebrate ecologist from the
University of Central Oklahoma was back on his annual visit to
Grand Cayman. Since 2010, Dr. Bass has visited the island annually
and has made 120 collections on sites across the three islands.
This year he and the Terrestrial Research Unit of the Department of
Environment sampled Blue Hole cave (in West Bay), Vetner's
Cistern (in East End), and Kary's Pond and the Buttonwood Swamp
in the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park.
Dr. Bass explains that the "freshwater macro-invertebrate
fauna in the Cayman Islands is generally sparse, probably due to
their oceanic origin, their [the Islands'] small sizes, limited
freshwater habitats, natural and human disturbances, and challenges
colonizing such habitats". Nevertheless, 94 fresh/brackish
water species have been identified, most of them from Grand Cayman.
The most interesting addition to the species list is probably
