Anthelme Fabien auteur aut IRD Jacobsen D. auteur aut IRD Macek P. auteur aut IRD Meneses R. I. auteur aut IRD Moret P. auteur aut IRD Beck S. auteur aut IRD Dangles Olivier auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf born digital access Alpine areas of the tropical Andes constitute the largest of all tropical alpine regions worldwide. They experience a particularly harsh climate, and they are fragmented into tropical alpine islands at various spatial scales. These factors generate unique patterns of continental insularity, whose impacts on biodiversity remain to be examined precisely. By reviewing existing literature and by presenting unpublished data on beta-diversity and endemism for a wide array of taxonomic groups, we aimed at providing a clear, overall picture of the isolation-biodiversity relationship in the tropical alpine environments of the Andes. Our analyses showed that (1) taxa with better dispersal capacities and wider distributions (e.g., grasses and birds) were less restricted to alpine areas at local scale; (2) similarity among communities decreased with spatial distance between isolated alpine areas; and (3) endemism reached a peak in small alpine areas strongly isolated from main alpine islands. These results pinpoint continental insularity as a powerful driver of biodiversity in the tropical High Andes. A combination of human activities and warming is expected to increase the effects of continental insularity in the next decades, especially by amplifying the resistance of the lowland matrix that surrounds tropical alpine islands. specialized ANDES ZONE TROPICALE 082 021 46 4 811-828 2014 1523-0430 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010063090 10.1657/1938-4246-46.4.811 1523-0430 [F B010063090] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010063090 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2015/01/010063090.pdf Accès réservé (Intranet de l'IRD) IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2015-02-02 2017-08-23 fdi:010063090 fre