Conclusions
Our results are consistent with the expectations of the neutral theory
of biodiversity
(Hubbell, 2001) and
with the idea that global patterns of hyperdiverse tropical mountains
reflect the differentiation of small isolated populations combined with
their long-term persistence
(Bray & Bocak, 2016;
Rahbek et al., 2019a). Complementing studies that focus on population
isolation among different mountains, here we found that the composition
of arthropods communities shows strong turnover within a sky-island and
a limited geographic scale (<20 km). We also found that
distance and elevation drive biodiversity structure from haplotypes to
lineages levels. In groups of low dispersal ability (Collembola), this
pattern holds even at a very fine spatial scale (<2 km).
Therefore, our results support a general model where neutral dynamics
and dispersal limitations act as a source of local-scale diversity
within tropical mountains.