ArticleEcology letters2020
A process-based metacommunity framework linking local and regional scale community ecology.
Article in Ecology letters, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers.
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Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed.
- Interaction matrices as unifying tools for navigating ecological complexity.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Review
- From environmental heterogeneity to stability: Beta-diversity stabilizes biomass across space.Ecology · 2026Article
- Dispersal kernels regulate environmental, biotic, and stochastic effects on the maintenance of metacommunity diversity.Ecology · 2026Article
- Dispersal mode and spatial heterogeneity shape the interaction between adaptation and dispersal in multitrophic metacommunities.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Scale Dependence of Woody Plant β-Diversity in a Tropical Rainforest Metacommunity.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- The island biology of the host microbiome.Trends in microbiology · 2026Review
- Microbial community succession along the entrance to distant zone in karst cave ecosystem: community assembly and distance decay patterns in weathered rock and sediment habitats.Environmental microbiome · 2026Article
- Multiple Mechanisms Required to Predict Grass Community Composition.Ecology letters · 2026Article
- Forest Heterogeneity by Chain Saw: How Between-Patch Variation in Old Growth Attributes Changes the Metacommunities of Beetles.Ecology letters · 2026Article
- Integrative Assessment of Hong Kong Chironomidae (Diptera) Shows High Species Richness Linked to Spatial and Environmental Factors.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- The Geography of Mediterranean Benthic Communities Under Climate Change.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Body Size and Local Density Explain Movement Patterns in Stream Fishes.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Prediction of mosquito vector abundance for three species in the Anopheles gambiae complex.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- Keystone Predation: What Is It, and Is It Supported by Empirical Evidence?Ecology and evolution · 2025Review
- Spatial Factors Shape Taxonomic and Functional Beta-Diversity in Water-Filled Tree Holes in Different Biogeographical Regions.Ecology letters · 2025Article
- Phylogenetic Conservatism and Ambient Temperature Shape Spatial Variation in Bat Occupancy and Species Richness Along a Subtropical Elevational Gradient.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Functional Diversity of Wintering Waterbird Enhanced by Restored Wetland in the Lakeshore of Chaohu Lake.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Dispersal evolution can only rescue a limited set of species from climate change.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Water beetle networks differences and migration between natural lakes and post-exploitation water bodies.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Species occupancy is inflated by sink populations in productive environments but not unproductive environments.Ecology · 2025Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
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Abstract
The metacommunity concept has the potential to integrate local and regional dynamics within a general community ecology framework. To this end, the concept must move beyond the discrete archetypes that have largely defined it (e.g. neutral vs. species sorting) and better incorporate local scale species interactions and coexistence mechanisms. Here, we present a fundamental reconception of the framework that explicitly links local coexistence theory to the spatial processes inherent to metacommunity theory, allowing for a continuous range of competitive community dynamics. These dynamics emerge from the three underlying processes that shape ecological communities: (1) density-independent responses to abiotic conditions, (2) density-dependent biotic interactions and (3) dispersal. Stochasticity is incorporated in the demographic realisation of each of these processes. We formalise this framework using a simulation model that explores a wide range of competitive metacommunity dynamics by varying the strength of the underlying processes. Using this model and framework, we show how existing theories, including the traditional metacommunity archetypes, are linked by this common set of processes. We then use the model to generate new hypotheses about how the three processes combine to interactively shape diversity, functioning and stability within metacommunities.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.