metacommunity

The term metacommunity is usually used to refer to a set of processes that generate diversity patterns, rather than for a defined region or discrete set of patches.

Metacommunity ecology 2009

Finally, at high dispersal rates, all three components of diversity are low because all patches are dominated by the same set of superior competitors, and the metacommunity has essentially become a single large patch (figure from Mouquet & Loreau 2003).

Metacommunity ecology 2009

Loreau M. & Gonzalez A. (2004) The metacommunity concept: a framework for multi-scale community ecology.

Metacommunity ecology 2009

But by linking local patches to a larger metacommunity, realistic diversity patterns can be maintained even in the face of such random fluctuations, and a balance between colonization and extinction is struck.

Metacommunity ecology 2009

According to the seminal paper by Leibold et al. there are four main metacommunity processes potentially driving patterns of diversity:

Metacommunity ecology 2009

In order to fully understand how different mechanisms of species coexistence operate, metacommunity diversity is usually parsed into three components: local patch diversity, among-patch diversity (which measures how different patch communities are from one another), and total metacommunity diversity.

Metacommunity ecology 2009

Figure 1: The results from a computer simulation of how a mass effects process with differing dispersal rates affects diversity at three scales: alpha ( or local), beta ( or among-patch) and gamma ( or total metacommunity).

Metacommunity ecology 2009

The relative magnitude of the local and among-patch portions of metacommunity diversity inform our understanding of the potential mechanisms affecting species coexistence (Fig. 1).

Metacommunity ecology 2009

First, studies that examine diversity patterns at the scales (local, among-patch and metacommunity) where every patch is followed are routinely done with theoretical/computational and aquatic laboratory studies.

Metacommunity ecology 2009

However, this dichotomy between conceptual and spatial definitions has lead to two types of metacommunity studies.

Metacommunity ecology 2009