Supplementary material of the article “Elevation patterns and critical environmental drivers of the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of small mammals in a karst mountain area”.

Understanding how biodiversity components are related under different
environmental factors is a fundamental challenge for ecology studies, yet
there is little knowledge of this interplay among the biotas, especially
small mammals, in karst mountain areas. Here, we examine the elevation
patterns of the taxonomic diversity (TD), phylogenetic diversity (PD) and
functional diversity (FD) of small mammals in a karst mountain area, the
Wuling Mountains, Southwest China, and compare these patterns between taxa
(Rodentia and Eulipotyphla) and scales (broad- and narrow-range species).
We also disentangle the impacts of the human influence index, net primary
productivity (NPP), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), annual
precipitation (AP), and annual mean temperature (AMT) on these three
facets of biodiversity by using structural equation modeling. We recorded
a total of 39 small mammal species, including 26 rodents and 13 species of
the order Eulipotyphla. Our study shows that the facets of biodiversity
are spatially incongruent. Net primary productivity has a positive effect
on the three facets for most groups, while the effect of the normalized
difference vegetation index is negative for TD and PD in most groups.
Annual mean temperature and annual precipitation have negative effects on
FD and PD, whereas TD is dependent on the species range scale. The human
influence index effect on TD and PD also depends on the species range
scale. These findings provide robust evidence that the ecological drivers
of biodiversity differ among different biotas and different range scales,
and future research should use multi-facet approach to determine
biodiversity conservation strategies.