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Deep, deep down: a day in the life of a subterranean biologist

Špela Borko tells how caving enhanced her appreciation of the myriad life forms that teem in underground lakes.
  1. Stav Dimitropoulos

    1. Stav Dimitropoulos is a freelance writer in Athens, Greece.

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Spela Borko during sampling in one of the cave she is carrying on research, Slovenia.

Špela Borko is a researcher and coordinator at Scientists for Balkan Rivers. Interview by Stav Dimitropoulos. Credit: Peter Gedei

What caves and underground lakes lack in sunlight and plants, they make up for with an astonishing diversity of fauna: intricately shaped arthropods and other invertebrates, many of which might be new to science. If you’re a subterranean biologist like me, you have to be a competent caver as well as a committed scientist.

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Nature 623, 1100 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03723-x

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 07 December 2023: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described Špela Borko as a cave-diver. She is a caver. It also implied that Niphargus crustaceans are semi-aquatic and live in humid environments. They are, in fact, fully aquatic. Finally, it conflated the common and scientific names of the trout species. Salmo marmoratus is a marbled trout.

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