Today we were fortunate to get into two stream caves in Roane County. Although both caves (TRN3 and TRN5) have been visited by cave biologists in the past, comprehensive bioinventories had not been conducted. Our caving party included Matthew Niemiller, Annette S. Engel, Charles Stephen, Scott Engel, Audrey Paterson, Evin Carter, and his brother Jance who was visiting for a few days. We first visited TRN5, a well known stream cave in Roane County. The spring mouth is 10 ft high x 35 ft wide leading into the cave, which follows a stream for 440 ft. Much of this distance is stooping or crawling in the cave stream, altough there are several areas to explore out of the water. The cave contained a diversity of life. The cave stream supported cave isopods, amphipods, and an undescribed species of aquatic cavesnail. Terrestrial habitats were rich with life, such as Cave Salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga), Northern Slimy Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus), Pickerel Frogs (Lithobates palustris), cave spiders, terrestrial cave isopods, springtails, and several species of flies.
Later in the day, we visited TRN3. The main entrance to TRN3 is located in deep-sided sink. It's a scenic walkin entrance leading down to a stream that can be easily followed for some 500 ft. The inflowing stream is rather shallow and flows over cherty gravel with considerable amounts of organic debris also deposited in pools and along gravel bars. Toward the end of this main passage, Jance and Evin explored a crawlway over a clay bank leading into an upper-level room. The cave was diverse with life, likely in response to large amounts of organic matter that is regularly washed into the cave system. Cave Salamanders (E. lucifuga) and Pickerel Frogs (L. palustris) were observed along the main passage, while Berry Cave Salamanders (G. gulolineatus), Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) and Green Sunfish (L. cyanellus) were observed in pools in the cave stream. Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus) were found in crevices in the twilight zone. Invertebrate life was also quite impressive, include several species of terrestrial snails, two of which may be troglobionts. Millipedes, particular Cambala sp. and Scoterpes sp., were common amongst organic debris along the stream. Other invertebrate life included terrestrial cave isopods, diplurans, springtails, spiders, and cave beetles.
