Fig 1.
The cave entrance is approximately 70 m wide, 15 m high and the depth of the entrance cavern supporting vascular plants 170 m. This cave is type locality for 8 vascular plant species.
Fig 2.
Distribution and species-richness of study caves across SW China.
The diameter of the point corresponds to species-richness.
Fig 3.
All species (red), angiosperms (blue) and ferns (green).
Fig 4.
Summary of human disturbance observed in the 61 caves surveyed.
Grey (no disturbance), pale blue (tourism), yellow (storage of cattle), pale green (cultivation of herbs), dark grey (harvesting of plants), white (temporary mausoleum) and dark blue (drawing water).
Table 1.
Summary of PAR observations taken from a subsample of 14 caves.
Observation taken parallel to leaf surface at points at which vascular plants were growing. Means are of 3 observations taken in each zone.
Fig 5.
Light levels recorded in the entrance and twilight zones of caves compared to other previously documented low-light vascular plant habitats.
Numbers in square brackets refer to reference used to source of data, * refers to this study.