Montane refuges and topographic complexity generate and maintain invertebrate biodiversity: recurring themes across space and time

If a common set of landscape characteristics seem to predict spatial patterns of biodiversity in several regions with different biogeographic histories and community compositions, these could inform conservation. Two papers recently published in Journal of Insect Conservation provided evidence that topographic heterogeneity can play a major role in harbouring invertebrate community biodiversity, and that upland areas potentially function as refugia from infrequent but severe climatic conditions that occur over ecological timescales. Similar findings are being echoed in the growing body of phylogeographic literature on terrestrial invertebrates from montane landscape settings. The purpose of this short communication is to place the two recently published papers into a broader context. Phylogeographic studies usually focus on genetic diversity within and among populations, and at relatively deep evolutionary timescales. The parallels that appear to be emerging across different levels of biological organisation and temporal spectra suggest that (1) microevolutionary processes operating at the level of populations may ‘scale-up’ to macroevolutionary processes operating at the level of species or higher, and (2) certain landscape features—particularly topography—may be particularly important when formulating strategies to protect terrestrial invertebrate biodiversity.