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

amphibians were similarly influenced by differences in species richness and species replace- ment. In the case of reptiles, species replacement contributed more substantially to the β-diver- sity of this group, especially in Z1. The vertebrates in karst caves at Z3 and Z4 did not show β- diversity values (Fig 6). In volcanic caves, species richness dominated the β-diversity of all ver- tebrate classes, especially in Z3 and Z4 (Fig 6). Beta diversity in cave environments In the aphotic environment of karst caves, species richness showed the highest contribution to the β-diversity of mammals and amphibians. In the disphotic environment, differences in spe- cies replacement (60%) and richness (40%) influenced the β-diversity of birds. Finally, in the euphotic environment, birds and reptiles showed similar β-diversity values, which were due to both species replacement and richness, and species replacement contributed 100% to the β- diversity values of mammals (Fig 7). In volcanic caves, species richness contributed in a higher proportion to the β-diversity of mammals and birds in the aphotic and euphotic environments. Species richness also contrib- uted in a higher proportion to the β-diversity of amphibians and reptiles but in the aphotic and disphotic environments (Fig 7). Similarity in species richness The similarity in species richness between caves showed that karst caves shared a mean of 55% of species, whereas volcanic caves shared a mean of 70% of species. The greatest similarity was

found between the karst caves MT and NC, which shared up to 75% of the total species, fol- lowed by the karst caves PI, OJ and TP, which shared 70% of the total species. The volcanic caves ES and VL shared 807% of species richness (Fig 8). The Mantel test showed that Fig 6. β-diversity values of four vertebrate classes calculated between altitudinal zones. The total height represents the overall β-diversity. Overall β-diversity is partitioned into replacement (repl. In yellow) and richness (rich in red) components. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306105.g006 PLOS ONE Vertebrates in caves of Neotropical hotspot PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306105 August 9, 2024 10 / 19