SIMoNA: Sky Island Mammals of North America

We provide an overview of research articles in the Journal of Mammalogy showcasing new field, museum, molecular, and computational approaches to study the biogeographic and conservation challenges relevant to the Sky Island Mammals of North America (SIMoNA). Covering topics ranging from endangered species management to comparative analyses of montane archipelagoes, the collection is designed to engage a broad audience including biogeographers, conservation biologists, ethologists, population and community ecologists, as well as natural history and specimen-based biodiversity researchers. The papers examine similarities and differences in the small mammals within, between, and among major sky-island systems of North America, including those in the Great Basin, American Southwest, Madrean subarchipelago, and Appalachian Mountains. From single species to communities, and single islands to entire archipelagoes, these diverse perspectives reveal how sky island systems provide powerful opportunities to test ecological and biogeographic theory and inform conservation priorities. The 8 articles leverage field, museum, molecular, and computational approaches including new applications of sky-island delineation, revised species inventories, and modeling species distributions through time to study North American sky island mammals. These approaches are guided by the recently developed Constraint-based model of Dynamic Island Biogeography, linking traits and environmental history to species distributions across space and time. Collectively, these articles build a foundation for potential future transnational collaboration on topics of practical and theoretical concern to sky island systems in the United States and Mexico including how past and ongoing environmental changes influence these biodiverse mammalian communities.