Metacommunity Ecology

Preface xi
1. Introduction: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Metacommunity Ecology 1
1.1. The indelible influence of scale 3
1.2. The metacommunity framework allows simultaneous consideration of multiple processes at multiple scales 5
1.3. Discrete versus continuous metacommunities 9
1.4. A brief history of metacommunity ecology 13
1.5. MacArthur's paradox: Determinism versus stochasticity and the null model wars 15
1.6. Reemergence of the metacommunity perspective: 1990s and 2000s 18
1.7. A prospectus for metacommunity ecology: What are we trying to do in this book? 19
1.8. Moving forward: Overview of the rest of the book 20
1.9. A final note on our assumptions 21
2. The Theories of Metacommunities 23
2.1. An overview and critical analysis of the four archetypes of metacommunity ecology 27
2.2. Comparing and contrasting the archetypes 34
2.3. Exploring metacommunity ecology at the interface of the archetypes 37
2.4. Is there an "ubermodel"? 42
2.5. The influence of local coexistence mechanisms 46
2.6. Conclusions 47
3. Processes in Metacommunities 49
3.1. Resource utilization and response 51
3.2. Evidence for demographic stochasticity and drift 54
3.3. Dispersal limitation 62
3.4. Interactions between stochasticity, dispersal, and interspecific effects 74
3.5. The influence of habitat heterogeneity 77
3.6. Interactions between habitat heterogeneity and dispersal 84
3.7. Implications for local versus regional controls on diversity 87
3.8. Conclusions and synthesis 88
4. Metacommunity Patterns in Space 90
4.1. Patterns of SADs and related diversity metrics 92
4.2. Null models and co-occurrence in metacommunities 94
4.3. Elements of metacommunity structure 99
4.4. Using variation partitioning to diagnose spatial, environmental, and random effects 106
4.5. Variation in the relative importance of metacommunity-structuring processes 112
4.6. Factors that influence variation in metacommunity patterns 117
4.7. Contributions of different species and different localities to the overall metacommunity pattern 126
4.8. How well can we hope to do in explaining metacommunity structure? 127
4.9. Caveats and conclusions 129
5. Interactions between Time and Space in Metacommunities 131
5.1. Temporal turnover: What does theory predict? 133
5.2. Patterns of temporal turnover 135
5.3. How time can influence deterministic community assembly 140
5.4. Priority effects and multiple stable equilibria in metacommunities 141
5.5. Endpoint assembly cycles 144
5.6. Frequency-dependent coexistence in spatially continuous metacommunities 147
5.7. Conclusions 149
6. What Can Functional Traits and Phylogenies Tell Us about Coexistence in Metacommunities? 151
6.1. A brief history of trait-and phylogeny-based "assembly rules" 154
6.2. The correlation between phylogenetic and trait-based information and "real" metacommunity processes 158
6.3. Trait and phylogenetic over-or underdispersion: What does coexistence theory predict? 162
6.4. Phylogenetic and functional-trait dispersions in a simple SS metacommunity 167
6.5. Phylogenetic and trait dispersions in non-SS metacommunity archetypes 173
6.6. Conclusions 175
7. Combining Taxonomic and Functional-Trait Patterns to Disentangle Metacommunity Assembly Processes 177
7.1. Using functional information to enhance taxonomic pattern analysis 179
7.2. Using functional information to enhance analyses of change through space or time 184
7.3. Toward a trait-based theory of metacommunity assembly 189
7.4. Closing the loop: Predicting species abundance and distribution from traits 197
7.5. Conclusions 200
8. Eco-evolutionary Dynamics in Metacommunities 202
8.1. Building an evolutionary ecology of metacommunities 204
8.2. Adaptive evolution in metapopulations and metacommunities 205
8.3. The community monopolization hypothesis 207
8.4. Evolution toward neutrality 219
8.5. Frequency-dependent evolution 226
8.6. The interaction of community monopolization and neutral evolution 228
8.7. The interaction between community monopolization and neutral evolution in the "real" world? 233
8.8. Conclusions 236
9. Macroevolution in Metacommunities 239
9.1. How metacommunity processes influence phylogeny and radiations 241
9.2. Historical effects 245
9.3. Synthesis: A research agenda for integrating evolutionary and ecological processes that affect biodiversity 250
9.4. Conclusions 254
10. The Macroecology of Metacommunities 255
10.1. What is macroecology? 257
10.2 Synthesizing biodiversity macroecology processes and patterns 262
10.3 Dissecting biodiversity macroecology patterns 267
10.4. The role of metacommunity assembly processes in biodiversity macroecology patterns 274
10.5. Diversity partitioning and the SAR 276
10.6. Metacommunity assembly and the nested SAR 277
10.7. Metacommunity assembly and the ISAR 279
10.8. Biodiversity in the Anthropocene 283
10.9. Metacommunities and contemporary biogeography: Scale-dependent patterns of species diversity along ecological gradients 294
10.10. Other macroecological patterns 300
10.11. Conclusions 301
11. Food Webs in Metacommunities 303
11.1. How do spatial processes and trophic interactions combine to influence coexistence in simple metacommunities? 304
11.2. How do trophic interactions influence metacommunity processes? 306
11.3. Toward a theory for trophically structured metacommunities 310
11.4. Spatial processes and May's diversity-stability theory 319
11.5. Frequency dependence and feedbacks between trophic interactions and spatial processes 324
11.6. Food-web metacommunity assembly processes and the scale-dependent productivity-diversity relationship 327
11.7. The influence of metacommunity processes on food-web structure and indirect interactions 332
11.8. Conclusions 333
12. Community Assembly and the Functioning of Ecosystems in Metacommunities 335
12.1. The role of spatial processes in mediating BEF relationships 339
12.2. A simple framework based on resource competition in a metacommunity context 342
12.3. Ecosystems within metacommunities as CASs? 359
12.4. Do ecosystems have regular features? 363
12.5. Conclusions 368
13. From Metacommunities to Metaecosystems 369
13.1. Why spatial dynamics are so important in ecosystems 371
13.2. Elements of metaecosystems ecology 373
13.3. An emerging set of principles? 377
13.4. Conclusions 379
14. A Coming Transition in Metacommunity Ecology 380
14.1. The accomplishments of metacommunity ecology version 1.x 382
14.2. Synthesis through metacommunity ecology 384
14.3. The current status and limitations of metacommunity version 1.9 385
14.4. Going from version 1.9 to version 2.0 387
14.5. From basic to applied metacommunity ecology 389
14.6. Conclusions 391
References 393
Index 465