Table 1.

Results of mixed effect models testing the effect of elevational distance for overall beta (ß Sorensen) diversity and the components turnover and nestedness performed separately for along elevation and step-wise diversity for each taxonomic group.

Along elevation diversity
Index	Taxon	AIC null model	AIC	Delta AIC	R2 m	m	P value
ß Sorensen	Lichens	− 78.822	− 77.181	− 1.641	0.009	0.304	0.549
	Bryophytes	− 34.596	− 43.130	8.534	0.212	0.566	0.001**
	Vascular plants	− 13.805	− 51.308	37.503	0.730	0.797	< 0.0001***
	Ants	10.912	− 8.088	18.999	0.531	0.531	< 0.0001***
	Spiders	− 17.266	− 34.348	17.082	0.463	0.564	< 0.0001***
	Grasshoppers	− 14.412	− 48.326	33.914	0.690	0.770	< 0.0001***
	Butterflies	− 16.009	− 29.811	13.802	0.404	0.513	< 0.0001***
	Beetles	− 42.217	− 55.775	13.558	0.373	0.535	< 0.0001***
Turnover	Lichens	− 36.598	− 36.790	0.192	0.049	0.423	0.139
	Bryophytes	6.428	2.467	3.961	0.177	0.296	0.015*
	Vascular plants	− 6.157	− 51.460	45.303	0.789	0.851	< 0.0001***
	Ants	11.461	− 9.031	20.492	0.556	0.556	< 0.0001***
	Spiders	4.405	− 9.809	14.214	0.341	0.597	< 0.0001***
	Grasshoppers	− 11.324	− 27.416	16.092	0.459	0.534	< 0.0001***
	Butterflies	5.122	− 12.575	17.697	0.476	0.580	< 0.0001***
	Beetles	− 31.561	− 48.266	16.705	0.482	0.522	< 0.0001***
Nestedness	Lichens	− 61.545	− 63.189	1.644	0.084	0.427	0.056
	Bryophytes	− 18.893	− 19.511	0.618	0.089	0.089	0.106
	Vascular plants	− 99.366	− 131.235	31.869	0.652	0.764	< 0.0001***
	Ants	− 144.290	− 147.810	3.520	0.179	0.179	0.0188*
	Spiders	− 44.919	− 48.912	3.993	0.117	0.532	0.0144*
	Grasshoppers	− 69.308	− 70.304	0.996	0.081	0.305	0.083
	Butterflies	− 40.931	− 52.181	11.250	0.378	0.385	0.0003***
	Beetles	− 96.174	− 108.200	12.030	0.321	0.543	0.0002***

Stepwise diversity
Index	Taxon	AIC null model	AIC	Delta AIC	R2 m	R2 c	P value
ß Sorensen	Lichens	− 39.076	− 45.154	6.078	0.498	0.883	0.004**
	Bryophytes	− 6.970	− 10.837	3.867	0.255	0.396	0.015*
	Vascular plants	− 47.905	− 45.994	− 1.911	0.004	0.186	0.765
	Ants	3.638	− 1.357	4.995	0.344	0.559	0.008**
	Spiders	− 23.641	− 26.587	2.946	0.166	0.166	0.026*
	Grasshoppers	− 31.276	− 30.971	− 0.305	0.106	0.610	0.193
	Butterflies	− 31.647	− 32.699	1.052	0.136	0.330	0.081
	Beetles	− 49.135	− 48.248	− 0.887	0.044	0.193	0.292
Turnover	Lichens	− 15.138	− 22.681	7.543	0.587	0.959	0.002**
	Bryophytes	22.296	15.737	6.559	0.272	0.272	0.003**
	Vascular plants	− 45.773	− 45.991	0.218	0.080	0.155	0.136
	Ants	5.239	1.265	3.974	0.307	0.566	0.015*
	Spiders	3.753	5.305	− 1.552	0.016	0.059	0.503
	Grasshoppers	− 21.112	− 19.113	− 1.999	0.000	0.297	0.975
	Butterflies	− 10.993	− 9.788	− 1.204	0.050	0.569	0.372
	Beetles	− 21.388	− 19.401	− 1.987	0.000	0.000	0.909
Nestedness	Lichens	− 19.882	− 23.313	3.431	0.377	0.911	0.020*
	Bryophytes	0.697	0.702	− 0.005	0.090	0.312	0.158
	Vascular plants	− 115.490	− 122.950	7.460	0.461	0.652	0.002**
	Ants	− 144.290	− 147.890	3.600	0.182	0.182	0.018*
	Spiders	− 19.100	− 18.053	− 1.047	0.033	0.079	0.329
	Grasshoppers	− 64.643	− 67.487	2.844	0.296	0.716	0.028*
	Butterflies	− 35.734	− 33.734	− 2.000	0.000	0.774	0.990
	Beetles	− 41.188	− 40.529	− 0.659	0.047	0.047	0.247

AIC Null Model = is the AIC (Akaike information criterion) of the model without elevational distance as fixed factor, AIC = is the AIC of the model including elevational distance, Delta AIC is the difference of the applied model to the Null-Model. R² m… marginal, R² c… conditional. Significance levels: *...0.01–0.05, **...0.001–0.01, ***...0–0.001