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<p>The rain-shadow effect, a climatic phenomenon characteristic of mountain systems, creates sharply contrasting environmental conditions that shape biodiversity between the windward and leeward slopes of a mountain. Although elevational gradients in mountain biota are well studied, horizontal (slope-to-slope) diversity patterns remain comparatively unexplored. Between 2017 and 2024, we established systematic survey transects on the windward (western) and leeward (eastern) slopes of Baima Snow Mountain, Yunnan Province, China, and conducted standardized sampling of small mammals. Using the mitochondrial cytochrome-<i>b</i> gene for phylogenetic reconstruction together with traits linked to thermoregulation, osmoregulatory capacity, and resource use, we quantified taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity, identified their environmental drivers, and inferred community assembly processes. Our results revealed that leeward communities had low diversity in hot–dry valleys but markedly high diversity in high-elevation dark-coniferous forests, a pattern opposite to that observed on the windward side. Generalized linear mixed models identified humidity as the dominant predictor of diversity patterns, with temperature stability, primary productivity, and anthropogenic disturbance providing additional explanatory power. After controlling for species richness, phylogenetic and functional structure on the leeward slope shifted from clustering at low elevations to overdispersion at high elevations; the windward slope exhibited the reverse tendency. These findings underscore the context-dependent nature of biodiversity persistence and its drivers along elevational gradients. Our study refines understanding of a key protected area and offers insights applicable to mountain ecosystems worldwide, especially those shaped by comparable rain-shadow dynamics.</p>

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Rain-shadow effects drive contrasting elevational patterns and assembly processes of small mammal diversity on windward and leeward slopes

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月19日

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  • Yongyuan Li,
  • Mengru Xie,
  • Kenneth Otieno Onditi,
  • Xueyou Li,
  • Guangzhi Chen,
  • Hongjiao Wang,
  • Yihao Fang,
  • Xuehua Shu,
  • Wenyu Song

摘要

The rain-shadow effect, a climatic phenomenon characteristic of mountain systems, creates sharply contrasting environmental conditions that shape biodiversity between the windward and leeward slopes of a mountain. Although elevational gradients in mountain biota are well studied, horizontal (slope-to-slope) diversity patterns remain comparatively unexplored. Between 2017 and 2024, we established systematic survey transects on the windward (western) and leeward (eastern) slopes of Baima Snow Mountain, Yunnan Province, China, and conducted standardized sampling of small mammals. Using the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene for phylogenetic reconstruction together with traits linked to thermoregulation, osmoregulatory capacity, and resource use, we quantified taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity, identified their environmental drivers, and inferred community assembly processes. Our results revealed that leeward communities had low diversity in hot–dry valleys but markedly high diversity in high-elevation dark-coniferous forests, a pattern opposite to that observed on the windward side. Generalized linear mixed models identified humidity as the dominant predictor of diversity patterns, with temperature stability, primary productivity, and anthropogenic disturbance providing additional explanatory power. After controlling for species richness, phylogenetic and functional structure on the leeward slope shifted from clustering at low elevations to overdispersion at high elevations; the windward slope exhibited the reverse tendency. These findings underscore the context-dependent nature of biodiversity persistence and its drivers along elevational gradients. Our study refines understanding of a key protected area and offers insights applicable to mountain ecosystems worldwide, especially those shaped by comparable rain-shadow dynamics.