Ogdens Cave Natural Area Preserve on the Land Conservation Assistance Network

Ogdens Cave Natural Area Preserve
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last updated: November 2021

Ogdens Cave seems almost perfectly isolated from the rolling farmlands above. Light only reaches in a few yards and, at times, a stream near the entrance rises to the low ceiling to completely close off the passage. It hardly seems possible that the cave's chilled, damp recesses could support any form of life. In reality though, as with other caves, Ogdens Cave is intimately connected to the outside world. And because of those outside connections, a surprisingly diverse ecosystem is sustained within.

Nutrients that support that ecosystem arrive by several means. The stream in Ogdens Cave is actually a subterranean branch of Buffalo Marsh Run, which flows overland nearby. A significant portion of Buffalo Marsh Run sinks underground and delivers bits of organic matter to invertebrate communities among the cave stream's cobbles and along its riparian zone. Other cave invertebrate communities receive nutrients from water that percolates down from the surface and accumulates in drip pools throughout the cave. Other nutrients are delivered by animals, such as bats and crickets, which come and go from the cave, their dung and occasional corpses adding to the invertebrates'smorgasbord.

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