INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS
Cave environments: present and past
Custonaci 25-26 April 2015
City Hall
organised by Antonietta Rosso and Rossana Sanfilippo
In conjunction to “On and inside the mountain”
Study and dissemination days on Geology, Karst & Palaeontology
Custonaci 23 - 26 April 2015
Caves represent particular environments, either they are located in
subaerial or submarine settings. The organisms that colonise the cave
environment exhibit special morphologies, adaptations and behaviours, and
their distribution is triggered by the interplay of several environmental
parameters among which light attenuation usually plays a main role. As a
result plants are normally absent from the area immediately beyond the
entrances and biota generally decreases going deep into the caves.
Particularly, in shallow submarine settings, caves represent ecological
refuges and their communities can be highly diverse but severely shaped by
both hydrodynamic energy and the (usually related) availability/depletion
in oxygen and food resources.
Cave features can favour or even promote the preservation of the skeletons
of the organisms that lived inside the caves, as well as of those animals and
plants, coming from outside and that became accidentally entrapped and
accumulated inside caves.
Because of these peculiarities caves are of paramount interest from both
biological and palaeontological perspectives.
In this view, oral and poster presentations dealing with the topics
delineated above will be welcome for presentation during the meeting. The
aim is twofold: to favour the sharing of information and to provide the
opportunity for discussions about new insights and research achievements,
but also to extend knowledge on cave environments to non academic
people.
The topic will be introduced by the lecture:
Submarine caves in the coastal zone:
ecological refuges and very special biodiversity hotspots
by J.G. Harmelin
Station Marine d'Endoume,
M.I.O. (Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography) & GIS Posidonie
The meeting will include presentation sections and a half-day excursion to fossil
submarine caves.
HOW TO ARRIVE
Custonaci is a nice village situated near the coast, in a touristic area of western Sicily,
between Erice and Trapani to the South and San Vito Lo Capo to the North.
You can arrive by flight through the Trapani Birgi “Florio” airport (47 km aside, about 47
minutes by car) or the Palermo “Borsellino” airport 73 km aside, about 1 hour and 5
minutes by car). Flying to Trapani is better because this airport is closer to Custonaci and
flights are usually cheaper.
From Trapani airport you can reach Custonaci by bus through Autolinee AST (Azienda
Siciliana Trasporti). Visit www.airgest.it for further information.
From Palermo you can reach Custonaci by bus through Autolinee Prestia e Comandè to
the Palermo Railway Central Station and then through Autolinee Segesta to Trapani and
through Autolinee AST from Trapani to Custonaci. Visit www.gesap.it for further
information.
From both these airports (Trapani and Palermo) you can reach Custonaci by transfer
agreement (1-3 persons: 80.00 Euros, 4 p.: 90 Euros; 5 p.: 100 Euros; 6 p. 110 Euros; 7 p.
120 Euros; 8 p. 130 Euros) within this event contacting [email protected] or
phone + 39 333-3779908. Groups could be composed putting together people arriving
within short time intervals.
REGISTRATION
Preregistration form has to be sent to the scientific secretary ([email protected]) before
February, 20th 2015. A second circular with further details will be sent at the end of
February.
ABSTRACTS SUBMISSION
Provisional titles of oral and poster presentations should be submitted before February,
20th 2015 by e-mail to the scientific secretary ([email protected]). Final abstracts must be
submitted before March, 20th 2015.
Abstracts (max. 4000 characters) should be written in English and should include the title,
authors’ names, affiliations and address, beside the text, following the attached format.
Accepted abstracts will be assembled in the abstract volume and made electronically
available on the CIRS website, www.cirs-ragusa.org. A printed version will be delivered to
the participants during the meeting.
Oral communications must be prepared as Power Point. Time for exposition will be
calculated in relation to the total number of presentations and indicated in the second
announcement.
Posters must be prepared as vertical panels in standard dimensions of 70 cm x 100 cm.
They will be exposed for the duration of the entire meeting and discussed in a special
section.
PROCEEDINGS
The proceedings of the Symposium will be published in a peer-reviewed indexed special
volume, in agreement with people attending the meeting. The deadline for paper
submission could be indicatively September, 30 th 2015.
REGISTRATION FEES
The following registration fees were applicable for the congress:
35 euro Professional
25 euro Students
20 euro Accompanying persons
The fee can be paid directly during the meeting.
Registration include:
- Congress material, including abstract volume, field trip participation and facilities.
- Coffee breaks
- Packed lunch
- Closing congress party
ACCOMMODATION
For accommodation and hotel reservation, please contact:
Antonella Adragna, Custonaci è Turismo
www.custonaciinsicily.it
[email protected]
or phone: + 39 333 3779908
Consider that prices are generally cheep, ranging around 20.00-24.00 Euros (including
breakfast) or 35.00-39.00 Euros (half board) per person per day in a double room. Prices
are even cheaper in rooms hosting 3 persons (18.00-22.00 Euros and 33.00-37.00 Euros,
respectively). It is suggested to reserve your room early, considering that the meeting
partly overlaps with a holyday period, owing to an Italian National festivity.
Organizing and scientific committee: Antonietta Rosso and Rossana Sanfilippo
Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Corso Italia 57, Catania
University of Catania, 95129 – Catania, Italy
For any further information, please contact: [email protected], + 39 0957195761