Substantial variation in dispersal exists between organisms that contributes to the structuring of ecological communities in space and time. The explicit incorporation of space into community ecology has been an extremely important advance in our understanding of natural systems. Rather than view communities as isolated entities, we are beginning to conceptualize them as assemblages determined by the relative strengths of dispersal driven regional effects and local environmental factors. However, despite its explicit incorporation of dispersal and space, explaining patterns in biodiversity - and its multiple dimensions - often fail to capture the realities of natural systems by not accounting for the shape or configuration of the space within which organisms disperse.
The goals of this Research Topic are to advance our understanding in a number of areas, including (1) while some work has emerged on how species diversity responds to isolation in linear branching networks, it is unknown how functional or phylogenetic diversity should respond to similar other spatially constrained environments, and (2) much work over the last 10 years has focused on patterns in space, and less so in time; as such, a logical next step is to learn how spatially constrained environments imparts stability in aggregate and compositional aspects of ecological communities.
We welcome submissions concerning the following themes:
• Local, regional, and between habitat biodiversity patterns - in multiple dimensions - as a consequence of spatially constrained environments.
• The response of aggregate and/or compositional stability of ecological communities to habitat structure.
• Relevant population demography features of ecological communities and the relationship between functional traits and habitat structure.
• The role of phylogenetic regional diversity in driving species pool constraints on local assemblage structures in spatially constrained environments.
• Interactions between disturbance and habitat structure on functional diversity.
• Tests of contemporary metacommunity models in spatially constrained environments.
Substantial variation in dispersal exists between organisms that contributes to the structuring of ecological communities in space and time. The explicit incorporation of space into community ecology has been an extremely important advance in our understanding of natural systems. Rather than view communities as isolated entities, we are beginning to conceptualize them as assemblages determined by the relative strengths of dispersal driven regional effects and local environmental factors. However, despite its explicit incorporation of dispersal and space, explaining patterns in biodiversity - and its multiple dimensions - often fail to capture the realities of natural systems by not accounting for the shape or configuration of the space within which organisms disperse.
The goals of this Research Topic are to advance our understanding in a number of areas, including (1) while some work has emerged on how species diversity responds to isolation in linear branching networks, it is unknown how functional or phylogenetic diversity should respond to similar other spatially constrained environments, and (2) much work over the last 10 years has focused on patterns in space, and less so in time; as such, a logical next step is to learn how spatially constrained environments imparts stability in aggregate and compositional aspects of ecological communities.
We welcome submissions concerning the following themes:
• Local, regional, and between habitat biodiversity patterns - in multiple dimensions - as a consequence of spatially constrained environments.
• The response of aggregate and/or compositional stability of ecological communities to habitat structure.
• Relevant population demography features of ecological communities and the relationship between functional traits and habitat structure.
• The role of phylogenetic regional diversity in driving species pool constraints on local assemblage structures in spatially constrained environments.
• Interactions between disturbance and habitat structure on functional diversity.
• Tests of contemporary metacommunity models in spatially constrained environments.
