Podpeška jama, Slovenia
The entrance to Podpeška jama (Podpeška Cave) lies in the east-central Slovenia, on the western edge of karst polje Videm-Dobrepolje, at the contact between impermeable and permeable bedrock. Owing to its easy accessibility and hydrological significance, the cave attracted early explorers seeking to understand karst underground morphology and water pathways, giving it a notable place in the history of Slovenian karst research. As far back as 1687, its map was drawn by J. V. Valvasor, who published it in the journal of the English Royal Society. This was the first map of a karst cave in Slovenia and one of the first of its kind in the world. The cave is also known for hosting the world's first cave speleobiological laboratory, established in 1928, as part of the Zoological Institute of the University of Ljubljana. The laboratory ceased its operations shortly after the Second World War and was never reopened.
Grega sampling in the cave.
Podpeška jama is home to more than 20 troglobiotic species, including the olm (Proteus anguinus) and is a type locality of the aquatic cave isopod Monolistra caeca. The specialty of the cave is also the fact that its large entrance opens in the middle of the village Podpeč, right among the houses. However, many of its passages, the cumulative length of which exceeds 4 km, are accessible only at low water levels, and some even only with diving equipment. Even before the 17th century, a four-meter-high dam was built in the cave, which helped provide drinking water until the 1970s.
Cave waters were sampled for eDNA also few months earlier, within EU Biodiversa+ project Sub-BioMon (https://www.sub-biomon.net/) which may enable interesting comparisons with GreG outcomes.
Podpeška jama is situated at the bottom of the forested hill, in the middle of the village Podpeč.
Words by Dren Dolničar, Grega Benko & Maja Zagmajster
Photos by Ester Premate
Sampling team: Grega Benko & Ester Premate