Mountain caves of the central region of Veracruz: A vertebrate biodiversity reservoir in a Neotropical hotspot

RESEARCH ARTICLE Mountain caves of the central region of Veracruz: A vertebrate biodiversity reservoir in a Neotropical hotspot Alberto Herna´ndez-Lozano1,2, Arturo Gonza´ lez-ZamoraID3*, Martha L. Baena3, Yareni Perroni-Ventura4, Diana Gisell Juanz-Aguirre1,2, Israel Huesca-Domı´guez3 1 Instituto de Investigaciones Biolo´ gicas, Posgrado en Biologı´a Integrativa, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, 2 Unidad de Manejo para la Conservacio´ n de la Vida Silvestre La Coruja, Alberto Caldero´n, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, 3 Instituto de Investigaciones Biolo´gicas, Academia de Zoologı´a, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, 4 Instituto de Ecologı´a y Biotecnologı´a Aplicada, Campus para la Cultura, las Artes y el Deporte, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico * artugonzalez@uv.mx Abstract The mountain region of central Veracruz, Mexico hosts a large system of karst and volcanic caves that are unexplored. In particular, the vertebrates that inhabit these subterranean eco- systems are unknown. This study evaluated the diversity of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish in three environments (euphotic, disphotic, and aphotic) of 16 caves of different geological origin (12 karst caves and 4 volcanic caves) distributed along an altitudi- nal gradient (300–2400 m a.s.l.). We found a richness of 242 vertebrate species (184 birds, 30 mammals, 15 reptiles, 12 amphibians, and 1 fish) and an abundance of a total of 11,323 individuals (4,969 mammals, 6,483 birds, 36 reptiles, 27 amphibians, and 5 fish). The rich-

ness of all vertebrate classes was higher in karst than in volcanic caves. Vertebrate diversity was also higher at mid-altitudes between 600–899 m a.s.l. Diversity varied between environ- ments, where bird and reptile richness was higher in the euphotic environment, while mam- mal and amphibian diversity was higher in the aphotic environment. The similarity in the composition of vertebrate species does not depend on the distance between karstic and vol- canic caves. Volcanic and karst caves shared on average up to 70% and 55% of vertebrate species, which indicates that only 30% and 45% of species, respectively, is different in each cave type. Given the vulnerability and fragility of these subterranean ecosystems, as well as the important diversity that they contain, we recommend including the caves of the central region of Veracruz in the conservation agenda of local governments and communities. Com- munity-based conservation can help ensure the presence of vertebrate species in the caves of this region. Introduction Karst and volcanic caves have an implicit biological value worldwide since they contain unique and complex environments and organisms such as the vertebrate species that are able to PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306105 August 9, 2024 1 / 19 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Herna´ndez-Lozano A, Gonza´lez-Zamora A, Baena ML, Perroni-Ventura Y, Juanz-Aguirre DG, Huesca-Domı´guez I (2024) Mountain caves of the central region of Veracruz: A vertebrate biodiversity

reservoir in a Neotropical hotspot. PLoS ONE 19(8): e0306105. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0306105 Editor: Joshua B. Gross, University of Cincinnati, UNITED STATES Received: November 11, 2023 Accepted: June 11, 2024 Published: August 9, 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Herna´ndez-Lozano et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.