The book makes a tiger leap forward in developing a truly unified community ecology. Community ecology has undergone a transformation in recent years, from a discipline largely focused on processes occurring within a local area to a discipline encompassing a much richer domain of study, including the linkages between communities separated in space metacommunity dynamics, niche and neutral theory, the interplay between ecology and evolution ecoevolutionary dynamics, and. A framework for largescale community ecology marcel holyoak, mathew a. The effects of spatial processes on two species interactions pdf. In paper iv we investigate how the spatial structure of the landscape number of patches and dispersal pattern of species affect a metacommunities response to increased mortality. Metacommunity ecology combines the importance of local factors environmental conditions.
Summary neutral theory provides a null model for spatial ecology and community assembly. We argue that the evolutionary ecology of metacommunities will facilitate our understanding of how biotas are distributed and how they respond to. Since the 1970s, for example, metapopulation dynamicsstudies of interacting groups of populations connected through movementconcentrated on the processes of population turnover. A framework for multiscale community ecology article pdf available in ecology letters 77. The concept of meta communities was developed in an effort to link community ecology theory at the local level with regional and global models at larger spatial scales. We evaluated the role of spatial structuring within and between regions in explaining the functioning of 36. Spatial structures of the environment and of dispersal. A framework for largescale community ecology part1. Applied community ecology putman 1993 ecological communities definitions and a search for pattern. Metacommunities has four main sections including core concepts, empirical evidence, theoretical perspectives. The correspondence between species distribution and the environment depends on species ability to track favorable environmental conditions via dispersal and to maintain competitive hierarchy against the constant influx of migrants mass effect and demographic stochasticity ecological drift. Now, in the edited volume metacommunities, a group of ecologists has as set the laudable goal to reconcile these two apparently nonoverlapping perspectives and formulate a new general theory for community ecology at a hierarchy of scales.
While the role of space in regulating ecosystem functioning is well recognised in theory, it is rarely considered explicitly in empirical studies. 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. Fausch a multiscale framework for the analysis of fish metacommunities pedro r. To forge links between population and community ecology, we encourage more studies of spatial and temporal dynamics of multiple species within a single community e. A spatial process in which a population becomes established in an area where it was previously absent open community.
Intercommunity boundaries are porous and movement of organisms between local communities can alter local species diversity, community structure and ecosystem processes. This emerging subfield of ecology encapsulates the idea that ecological communities do not exist in isolation. In that sense, geographical spatial extent of observation would partly explain biodiversity distribution 34. Hydrology affects environmental and spatial structuring of. Abstractalthough metacommunity ecology has improved our understanding of how dispersal affects community structure and dynamics across spatial scales, it has yet to adequately account for dormancy. Gonzalez abstract the metacommunity concept is an important way to think about linkages between different spatial scales in ecology. This book is a resoundingly thorough exploration of metacommunity concepts to date. Metacommunity ecology links smallerscale processes that have been the provenance of population and community ecology such as birthdeath processes, species interactions, selection, and stochasticitywith largerscale issues such as dispersal and habitat heterogeneity.
Asynchrony among local communities stabilises ecosystem. The role of environmental and spatial processes operating in multiple scales to shape local community composition is explicit in the metacommunity framework. Department of biology and graduate degree program in ecology, colorado state university, fort collins, colorado 80523 usa abstract. Thus, the linkage and spatial distribution of habitats are important spatial factors influencing community structure and dynamics chisholm et al. Previous work has focused on determining the relative roles of two classes of. Community composition, environmental variation, and spatial structuring can influence ecosystem functioning, and ecosystem service delivery. Overall, it was an exciting journey exploring the interface between community ecology and macro ecology. Metapopulations and metacommunities species in changing environments. We argue that the evolutionary ecology of metacommunities will facilitate our understanding of how biotas are distributed and how they respond to environmental change at larger spatial scales. Spatial community ecology ecology explains the distribution and abundance of species from small to large spatial scales. We first investigate issues related to its definition as a set of local communities that are linked by dispersal of multiple potentially interacting species. Examining spatial concordance of genetic and species.
Ecology and evolution 14 species coexistence in variable environments 289 15 evolutionary community ecology 317. Relative importance of environmental, geographic, and. Partitioning spatial, environmental, and community drivers. Relative importance of environmental, geographic, and spatial variables on zooplankton metacommunities. Inter community boundaries are porous and movement of organisms between local communities can alter local species diversity, community structure and ecosystem processes. Complexity theory within community ecology addresses how trophic links scale with species richness in food webs, while typically ignoring spatial considerations 7,8,9,10,11,12. Dormancy in metacommunities the american naturalist. Abstractgiven the unique spatial structure of stream habitat and the stochasticity characteristic of lotic ecosystems, metacommunity approaches hold much promise in the field of stream ecology. When evolutionary and community dynamics occur at similar spatial and temporal scales. Dispersal ability determines the role of environmental. Currently there are two contrasting views of meta communities.
Impact of language, history, and choice of system on the study of assembly rules. Metacommunity ecology links smallerscale processes that have been the provenance of population and community ecologysuch as birthdeath processes, species interactions, selection, and stochasticitywith largerscale issues such as dispersal and habitat heterogeneity. Spatial community ecology andrew gonzalez, department of biology, mcgill university, montreal, quebec, canada ecology explains the distribution and abundance of species. Mar 11, 2004 complexity theory within community ecology addresses how trophic links scale with species richness in food webs, while typically ignoring spatial considerations 7,8,9,10,11,12. 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. Metacommunities has four main sections including core concepts, empirical evidence, theoretical. Dormancy is a reversible state of reduced metabolic activity that enables temporal dispersal within the metacommunity. Viral metacommunities associated to bats and rodents at. Dec 15, 2009 metacommunity ecology studies the interactions among species as they occur across a network of patches. Although we have accumulated good knowledge about the processes driving species distributions within. Metacommunity ecology studies the interactions among species as they occur across a network of patches. The evolutionary ecology of metacommunities sciencedirect.
A fruitful modelling approach that combines population and community disciplines is to build community modules, by examining dynamics of small sets. Dec, 2011 to forge links between population and community ecology, we encourage more studies of spatial and temporal dynamics of multiple species within a single community e. Here we report a simulation study of the influence of landscape structure on species distribution. An ecological metacommunity is a set of interacting communities which are linked by the dispersal of multiple, potentially interacting species. The rate and frequency of dispersal mediates the spatial distribution of diversity, abundance and the flux of energy across the metacommunity. Likewise, the identification of factors that shape symbiont metacommunity structures is important in disease ecology because resulting structures drive. 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. Unified spatial scaling of species and their trophic. If community composition is mainly predicted by environmental variables, then nicherelated. Community ecology provides a broad, uptodate coverage of ecological concepts at the community level and is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and ecological researchers. Metacommunity theory has advanced understanding of how spatial dynamics and local interactions shape community structure and biodiversity. Benthic metacommunities within a stream system are in continuous flux due to dispersal bruno et al. Metacommunity ecology, volume 59 princeton university press.
Dormancy is also a metacommunitylevel process because it can covary with. Linking theory with empirical observations of the spatial population dynamics of stream fishes jeffrey a. Metapopulations and metacommunities 12 patchy environments, metapopulations, and fugitive species 251 metacommunities and the neutral theory 267 part v species in changing environments. Community ecology history and origin of community ecology. Pdf a processbased metacommunity framework linking. The dynamics of species abundances and distribution within a metacommunity due to the compound effects of species interactions and dispersal. The effects of spatial processes on two species interactions martha f. The field of community ecology has undergone a transformation in recent years, from a discipline largely focused on processes occurring within a local area to a discipline encompassing a much richer.
Finally, he also experimented with spreading dye models and built a neutral metacommunity model to explain different biogeographical patterns in this realm. The collection of empirical, theoretical, and synthetic chapters in metacommunities seeks to understand how communities work in fragmented landscapes. 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. The influence of environmental and spatial factors on. A processbased metacommunity framework linking local and regional scale community ecology. With increasing distance between communities, the dispersal limitation increases. This book impressively pulls these disparate threads into a powerful and coherent framework based on metacommunities. Given the unique spatial structure of stream habitat and the stochasticity characteristic of lotic ecosystems, metacommunity approaches hold much promise in the field of stream ecology. Metacommunity theory posits that the dynamics within any local group of interacting species a community are governed both by processes that occur within the community such as resource competition or abiotic factors such as temperature and by the. A community that experiences immigration and emigration metacommunity dynamics.
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