The biogeography of the subterranean invertebrate fauna of West Virginia

Species diversity in a series of adjoining caves in Greenbrier County, West Virginia was thoroughly investigated in order to (i) estimate biodiversity for this area, (ii) determine whether cave size is related to the number of species and (iii) determine how many caves need to be sampled to achieve an accurate estimate of biodiversity. Eighteen subterranean invertebrate species were collected from 65 caves within a 25km2 area. Cave length was correlated with number of species. Few caves were needed to collect many of the species; seven caves were needed to collect 95% of the species. By sampling only the largest seven caves, 89% of the species were captured. However, the species accumulation curve did not reach an asymptote and estimations based on species rarity show that half of the species were not collected at all. Therefore, the patterns observed are approached with caution and more data and sampling are needed.