Adaptive and coadaptive dynamics in metacommunities. Predatorprey interactions in spatially complex habitats. Leibold is associate professor of integrative biology at the university. Abstract assembly and dynamics in multispecies communities have long attracted the interest of ecologists. Until recently community ecologya science devoted to understanding the patterns and processes of species distribution and abundancefocused mainly on specific and often limited scales of a single community. In these metacommunities, the relative importance of local environmental and regional spatial processes is currently hotly debated, especially in terms of the validity of neutral model. This book is a resoundingly thorough exploration of metacommunity concepts to date. Spatial dynamics and ecological communities abebooks. Until recently community ecology a science devoted to understanding the patterns and processes of species distribution and abundance focused mainly on. In that sense, geographical spatial extent of observation would partly explain biodiversity distribution 34. The evolutionary ecology of metacommunities sciencedirect. Pdf on dec 1, 2006, hans henrik bruun and others published meta communities. Spatial dynamics community ecology wiley online library. Due to the destruction of their habitat some organisms have an uneven distribution across the landscape.
In examining communities open to dispersal, the book unites a broad range of ecological theories, presenting some of the first empirical investigations and revealing the value of the metacommunity approach. Here we argue for a greater emphasis on the interplay between evolution in spatially structured populations and ecological dynamics in spatially structured communities termed metacommunities. When connectivity was disrupted, space was the dominant factor underlying beta diversity, and this did not change over time. The collection of empirical, theoretical, and synthetic chapters in metacommunities seeks to understand how communities work in fragmented landscapes. Riverine ecosystems, however, have been for a long time viewed from a local or linear perspective, even though the treelike branching of river networks is universal. We argue that a dispersalcentered synthesis of metacommunity ecology. In nonneutral communities, ecological drift is acting along with deterministic processes to determine the species distribution 45,48,49. Spatial structures of the environment and of dispersal. Metacommunities takes the hallmarks of metapopulation theory to the next level by considering a group of communities, each of which may contain numerous populations, connected by species interactions within communities and the movement of individuals between communities. Under high disturbance conditions, rare species may be more easily eliminated from their optimal habitats and their distribution may therefore be more heavily. From metacommunities to metaecosystems michel loreau, nicolas mouquet, and robert d.
Metacommunity structure influences the stability of local beetle communities pdf. View enhanced pdf access article on wiley online library html view download pdf for offline viewing. In affected areas a community of interacting organisms may be fragmented into a network of smaller patches connected through dispersal of individuals of the different species. Environmental processes and dispersal are primary determinants of metacommunity dynamics.
I collected 158 published data sets with information on community structure, environmental and spatial variables. Metacommunities provide a framework to understand the scale dependence of dominance and to highlight important controlling factors of dominance such as ecological interactions, dispersal, and species sorting. Specifically, habitat selection responses to top predators during. An ecological metacommunity is a set of interacting communities which are linked by the dispersal of multiple, potentially interacting species. Metacommunity theory provides a framework for assessing the role of spatial and environmental processes in structuring ecological communities and places emphasis on the role of. Colonization and extinction rates estimated from temporal. Ecological communities are not isolated, but connected via dispersal, which links local communities into metacommunities. Holyoak, marcel until recently community ecologya science devoted to understanding the patterns and processes of species distribution and abundancefocused mainly on specific and often limited scales of a single community.
Four metacommunity perspectives have been proposed. The size of a metacommunity, or number of patches, is predicted to influence community dynamics and therefore the structure and function of local communities. We first modelled spatial structures within each drainage basin using moran eigenvector maps. School of biological sciences flinders university gpo box 2100 adelaide, south australia 5001 australia email. Local and regional community dynamics in fragmented landscapes. Throughout succession, environmental and spatial factors both contributed signi. The metacommunity concept incorporates spatial dynamics into community ecology, shedding light on how local and regional processes interact in structuring ecological communities, and to which. Ecological community an overview sciencedirect topics. Dynamics of ecological communities in variable environments local. Metacommunity patterns and underlying processes in aquatic organisms have typically been studied within a drainage basin. Integrating environmental and spatial processes in. I collected 158 published data sets with information on community structure, environmental and spatial. In examining communities open to dispersal, the book unites a broad range. Nonconsumptive effects of predators are increasingly recognized as important drivers of community assembly and structure.
Tracking environmental change at different spatial scales mathew a. We developed an r package, island a community ecology tool to analyse temporal patterns and explore potential drivers of community dynamics. Metacommunities spatial dynamics and ecological communities edited by marcel holyoak, mathew a. The temporal dynamics of ecological communities are inherently complex, as dispersal processes, interspecific biotic interactions and environmental fluctuations interact to shape species assemblages. Ecological drift is an emergent property of community dynamics affecting species distribution and is the driver underlying species abundance distributions in the neutral theory 32,46,47. Metacommunity theory provides a framework for assessing the role of spatial and environmental processes in structuring ecological communities and places emphasis on the role of dispersal. Factors controlling community structure in heterogeneous. School of biological sciences flinders university gpo box 2100 adelaide, south australia 5001. Contrasting roles of environmental and spatial processes.
However, metacommunity dynamics are not yet described to their full extent. Hydrology affects environmental and spatial structuring of. However, recent work demonstrates that dispersal can drastically alter the interplay between ecological and evolutionary dynamics, often in unexpected ways. The term is derived from the field of community ecology, which is primarily concerned with patterns of species distribution, abundance and interactions. These models build on existing work on spatial community dynamics and are a starting point for considering the possibilities for how spatial dynamics might function. Research on the interactions between evolutionary and ecological dynamics has largely focused on local spatial scales and on relatively simple ecological communities. The influence of spatial processes on diversity and community dynamics is generally recognized in ecology and also applied to conservation projects involving forest and grassland ecosystems. Metacommunities has four main sections including core concepts, empirical evidence, theoretical. Holt represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in brigham young university. Marcel holyoakis associate professor of environmental science and policy at the university of california, davis. Holt and marcel holyoak food web dynamics in a metacommunity context.
According to metacommunity theory, community assembly processes can follow a neutral model or be explained by differences among species related mainly to the adaptation to local environmental factors and to differential dispersal abilities 12. Spatial dynamics and ecological communities 9780226350646. We hypothesized h2 that a model based on environmental, spatial and temporal dynamics would be able to predict the community similarities of nematodes in a distinct but geographically proximate. Interspecific interactions in patchy, subdivided habitats. Across more connected communities, spatial effects diminished over succes. Metacommunity ecology combines the importance of local factors environmental conditions. Spatial and environmental processes show temporal variation in the structuring of waterbird metacommunities. This is because joint evolutionary and dispersal dynamics can shape the species composition and diversity of natural communities 6, 7, 8. We also demonstrate the importance of both local and spatial processes when examining the temporal stability of primary production at the scale of. Since the 1970s, for example, metapopulation dynamics studies of interacting groups of populations connected through movementconcentrated on the processes of population turnover. The relative importance of these effects may vary between species of different abundance classes, given variation in life history traits. Encouraging community ecologists to rethink some of the leading theories of population and community dynamics, metacommunities urges ecologists to expand the spatiotemporal scales of their research. To gain a general understanding of how the environmental correlation structure might affect spatial community dynamics, i consider three different metacommunity types with different betweenspecies interaction patterns. Atthelocalscale,nicheselectionduetoabioticconstraintsandspeciesinteractionsanddemographicstochasticity regulate community structure chesson.
Spatial dynamic and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Metacommunity dynamics ecology oxford bibliographies. Habitat fragmentation and dispersal corridors affect. Spatial dynamics and ecological communities, edited by marcel holyoak, mathew a.
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