Evolution of dispersal in metacommunities of interacting species

Theoretical studies on the evolution of dispersal in metacommunities are rare despite empirical evidence suggesting that interspecific interactions can modify dispersal behaviour of organisms. To understand the role of species interactions for dispersal evolution, we utilize an individual‐based model of a metacommunity where local population dynamics follows a stochastic version of the Nicholson–Bailey model and dispersal probability is an evolving trait. Our results show that in comparison with a neutral system (commensalism), parasitism promotes dispersal of hosts and parasites, while mutualism tends to reduce dispersal in both partners. Search efficiency of guests (only in the case of parasitism), dispersal mortality and external extinction risk can influence the evolution of dispersal of all partners. In systems composed of two host and two guest species, lower dispersal probabilities evolve under parasitism as well as mutualism than in one host and one guest species systems. This is because of frequency‐dependent modulations of dispersal benefits emerging in such systems for all partners.     

Temporal dynamics of a local fish community are strongly affected by immigration from the surrounding metacommunity

A 5‐year time series of annual censuses was collected from a large floodplain lake to determine how dynamics of the local fish community were affected by changes in hydrological connectivity with the surrounding metacommunity. The lake was disconnected from the metacommunity for 1 year prior to our study and remained disconnected until 3 months before our third annual census, when a flood reconnected the lake to the metacommunity. We determined how changes in connectivity affected temporal dynamics of (1) local community composition and (2) the population composition, condition, and growth of catfish, to shed light on how immigration of other species might affect local population dynamics. Before reconnection, the community was likely shaped by interactions between the local environment and species traits. The reconnection caused significant immigration and change in community composition and correlated with a significant and abrupt decline in catfish condition, growth, and abundance; effects likely due to the immigration of a competitor with a similar trophic niche: carp. The community was slow to return to its preconnection state, which may be due to dispersal traits of the fishes, and a time‐lag in the recovery of the local catfish population following transient intensification of species interactions. The dynamics observed were concordant with the species sorting and mass‐effects perspectives of metacommunity theory. Floods cause episodic dispersal in floodplain fish metacommunities, and so, flood frequency determines the relative importance of regional and local processes. Local processes may be particularly important to certain species, but these species may need sufficient time between floods for population increase, before the next flood‐induced dispersal episode brings competitors and predators that might cause population decline. Accordingly, species coexistence in these metacommunities may be facilitated by spatiotemporal storage effects, which may in turn be regulated by flood frequency.     

Density-dependent dispersal and relative dispersal affect the stability of predator-prey metacommunities

Although density-dependent dispersal and relative dispersal (the difference in dispersal rates between species) have been documented in natural systems, their effects on the stability of metacommunities are poorly understood. Here we investigate the effects of intra- and interspecific density-dependent dispersal on the regional stability in a predator-prey metacommunity model. We show that, when the dynamics of the populations reach equilibrium, the stability of the metacommunity is not affected by density-dependent dispersal. However, the regional stability, measured as the regional variability or the persistence, can be modified by density-dependent dispersal when local populations fluctuate over time. Moreover these effects depend on the relative dispersal of the predator and the prey. Regional stability is modified through changes in spatial synchrony. Interspecific density-dependent dispersal always desynchronizses local dynamics, whereas intraspecific density-dependent dispersal may either synchronize or desynchronize it depending on dispersal rates. Moreover, intra- and interspecific density-dependent dispersal strengthen the top-down control of the prey by the predator at intermediate dispersal rates. As a consequence the regional stability of the metacommunity is increased at intermediate dispersal rates. Our results show that density-dependent dispersal and relative dispersal of species are keys to understanding the response of ecosystems to fragmentation.     

DISPERSAL PROPENSITY IN TETRAHYMENA THERMOPHILA CILIATES—A REACTION NORM PERSPECTIVE

Dispersal and phenotypic plasticity are two main ways for species to deal with rapid changes of their environments. Understanding how genotypes (G), environments (E), and their interaction (genotype and environment; G × E) each affects dispersal propensity is therefore instrumental for predicting the ecological and evolutionary responses of species under global change. Here we used an actively dispersing ciliate to quantify the contributions of G, E, and G × E on dispersal propensity, exposing 44 different genotypes to three different environmental contexts (densities in isogenotype populations). Moreover, we assessed the condition dependence of dispersal, that is, whether dispersal is related to morphological, physiological, or behavioral traits. We found that genotypes showed marked differences in dispersal propensity and that dispersal is plastically adjusted to density, with the overall trend for genotypes to exhibit negative density‐dependent dispersal. A small, but significant G × E interaction indicates genetic variability in plasticity and therefore some potential for dispersal plasticity to evolve. We also show evidence consistent with condition‐dependent dispersal suggesting that genotypes also vary in how individual condition is linked to dispersal under different environmental contexts thereby generating complex dispersal behavior due to only three variables (genes, environment, and individual condition).     

Warming induces synchrony and destabilizes experimental pond zooplankton metacommunities

The spatial insurance hypothesis predicts that intermediate rates of dispersal between patches in a metacommunity allow species to track favourable conditions, preserving diversity and stabilizing biomass at local and regional scales. However, theory is unclear as to whether dispersal will provide spatial insurance when environmental conditions are changing directionally. In particular, increased temperatures as a result of climate change are expected to cause synchronous growth or decline across species and communities, and this has the potential to erode the stabilizing compensatory dynamics facilitated by dispersal. Here we report on an experimental test of how dispersal affects the diversity and stability of metacommunities under warming using replicate two‐patch pond zooplankton metacommunities. Initial differences in local community composition and abiotic conditions were established by seeding each patch in the metacommunities with plankton and sediment from one of two natural ponds that differed in water chemistry and species composition. We exposed metacommunities to a 2°C increase in average ambient temperature, crossed with three rates of dispersal (none, intermediate, high). In ambient conditions, intermediate dispersal rates preserved diversity and stabilized metacommunities by promoting spatially asynchronous fluctuations in biomass, especially between local populations of the dominant genus, Ceriodaphnia. However, warming synchronized their populations so that these effects of dispersal were lost. Furthermore, because the stabilizing effect of dispersal was primarily due to asynchronous fluctuations between populations of a single genus, metacommunity biomass was stabilized, but dispersal did not stabilize local community biomass. Our results show that dispersal can preserve diversity and provide stability to metacommunities, but also show that this benefit can be eroded when warming is directional and synchronous across patches of a metacommunity, as is expected with climate warming.     

Metacommunity speciation models and their implications for diversification theory

The emergence of new frameworks combining evolutionary and ecological dynamics in communities opens new perspectives on the study of speciation. By acknowledging the relative contribution of local and regional dynamics in shaping the complexity of ecological communities, metacommunity theory sheds a new light on the mechanisms underlying the emergence of species. Three integrative frameworks have been proposed, involving neutral dynamics, niche theory, and life history trade‐offs respectively. Here, we review these frameworks of metacommunity theory to emphasise that: (1) studies on speciation and community ecology have converged towards similar general principles by acknowledging the central role of dispersal in metacommunities dynamics, (2) considering the conditions of emergence and maintenance of new species in communities has given rise to new models of speciation embedded in the metacommunity theory, (3) studies of diversification have shifted from relating phylogenetic patterns to landscapes spatial and ecological characteristics towards integrative approaches that explicitly consider speciation in a mechanistic ecological framework. We highlight several challenges, in particular the need for a better integration of the eco‐evolutionary consequences of dispersal and the need to increase our understanding on the relative rates of evolutionary and ecological changes in communities.     

Beyond connectivity: how the structure of dispersal influences metacommunity dynamics

Dispersal within metacommunities can play a major role in species persistence by promoting asynchrony between communities. Understanding this role is crucial both for explaining species coexistence and managing landscapes that are increasingly fragmented by human activities. Here, we demonstrate that spatial patterning of dispersal connections can drastically alter both the tendency toward asynchrony and the effect of asynchrony on metacommunity dynamics commonly used to infer the potential for persistence. We also demonstrate that changes in dispersal connections in strictly homogeneous predator-prey metacommunities can generate an extremely rich variety of dynamics even when previously investigated properties of connectivity such as the magnitude and distribution of dispersal among patches are held constant. Furthermore, the dynamics we observe depend strongly on initial conditions. Our results illustrate the effectiveness of measures of spatial structure for predicting asynchrony and its effects on community dynamics, providing a deeper understanding of the relationship between spatial structure and species persistence in metacommunities.     

Dispersal stochasticity mediates species richness in source–sink metacommunities

Although it is well‐known that dispersal of organisms within a metacommunity will influence patterns of coexistence and richness, theoretical and experimental studies generally assume that dispersal rates are constant through time. However, dispersal is often a highly variable process that can vary seasonally and/or when stochastic events (e.g. wind storms, droughts, floods) occur. Using a well‐known source–sink metacommunity model, we present novel predictions for local and regional species richness when stochasticity in dispersal is expressly considered. We demonstrate that dispersal stochasticity alters some of the predictions obtained with constant dispersal; the peak of the predicted hump‐shaped relationship between dispersal and local species richness is diminished and shifted towards higher values of dispersal. Dispersal stochasticity increases extinction probabilities of inferior competitor species particularly in metacommunities subjected to severe isolation events (i.e. decreases of dispersal) or homogenization events (i.e. sudden increases of dispersal). Our results emphasize how incorporating dispersal stochasticity into theoretical predictions will broaden our understanding of metacommunities dynamics and their responses to natural and human‐related disturbances.     

A process‐based metacommunity framework linking local and regional scale community ecology

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.     

Metacommunity size influences aquatic community composition in a natural mesocosm landscape

Ecosystems are often arranged in naturally patchy landscapes with habitat patches linked by dispersal of species in a metacommunity. The size of a metacommunity, or number of patches, is predicted to influence community dynamics and therefore the structure and function of local communities. However, such predictions have yet to be experimentally tested using full food webs in natural metacommunities. We used the natural mesocosm system of aquatic macroinvertebrates in bromeliad phytotelmata to test the effect of the number of patches in a metacommunity on species richness, abundance, and community composition. We created metacommunities of varying size using fine mesh cages to enclose a gradient from a single bromeliad up to the full forest. We found that species richness, abundance, and biomass increased from enclosed metacommunities to the full forest size and that diversity and evenness also increased in larger enclosures. Community composition was affected by metacommunity size across the full gradient, with a more even detritivore community in larger metacommunities, and taxonomic groups such as mosquitoes going locally extinct in smaller metacommunities. We were able to divide the effects of metacommunity size into aquatic and terrestrial habitat components and found that the importance of each varied by species; those with simple life cycles were only affected by local aquatic habitat whereas insects with complex life cycles were also affected by the amount of terrestrial matrix. This differential survival of obligate and non‐obligate dispersers allowed us to partition the beta‐diversity between metacommunities among functional groups. Our study is one of the first tests of metacommunity size in a natural metacommunity landscape and shows that both diversity and community composition are significantly affected by metacommunity size. Synthesis Natural food webs are sensitive to meta‐community size, i.e. the number of patches connected through dispersal. We provide an empirical test using the aquatic foodweb associated within bromeliads as a model system. When we reduced the number of bromeliad patches connect through dispersal, we found a clear change of the foodweb in terms of population sizes, beta diversity, community composition and predator‐prey ratios. The response of individual taxa was predictable based on species traits including dispersal modes, life cycle, and adult resource requirements. Our study demonstrates that community structure is strongly influenced by the interplay of species traits and landscape properties.     

Modularity along organism dispersal gradients challenges a prevailing view of abrupt transitions in animal landscape perception

A common property of landscapes and metacommunities is the occurrence of abrupt shifts in connectivity along gradients of individual dispersal abilities. Animals with short‐range dispersal capability perceive fragmented landscapes, but organisms moving across critical thresholds perceive continuous landscapes. This qualitative shift in landscape perception may determine several attributes of local communities and the dynamics of whole metacommunities. Modularity describes the existence in some communities of relatively high numbers of mutual connections favoring the movement of neighboring individuals (even when each individual is able to reach any patch in the landscape). Local patch linkages and metacommunity connectivity along gradients of dispersal ability have been reported frequently. However, the intermediate level of structure captured by modularity has not been considered. We evaluated landscape connectivity and modularity along gradients of individual dispersal abilities. Random landscapes with different degrees of cell aggregation and occupancy were simulated; we also analyzed ten real ecosystems. An expected, a shift in landscape connectivity was always detected; modularity consistently decreased gradually along dispersal gradients in both simulated networks and empirical landscapes. Neutral metacommunities within simulated landscapes demonstrated that modularity and connectivity may reflect landscape traits in the shaping of metacommunity diversity. Average beta‐diversity was strongly associated with modularity, particularly with low migration rates, while connectivity trends tracked changes in beta‐diversity at intermediate to high migrations rates. Consequently, while some species are able to perceive abrupt transitions in the landscape, many others probably experience a gradual continuum in landscape perception, contrary to predictions from previous analyses. Furthermore, the gradual behavior of modularity indicates that it may represent an exceptional early‐warning tool that measures system distance to tipping points. Our study highlights the multiple perceptions that different species may have of a single landscape and shows, for the first time, a theoretical and empirical relationship between landscape modularity, and metacommunity diversity.     

Intra- and interspecific density-dependent dispersal in an aquatic prey-predator system

1. Dispersal intensity is a key process for the persistence of prey-predator metacommunities. Consequently, knowledge of the ecological mechanisms of dispersal is fundamental to understanding the dynamics of these communities. Dispersal is often considered to occur at a constant per capita rate; however, some experiments demonstrated that dispersal may be a function of local species density. 2. Here we use aquatic experimental microcosms under controlled conditions to explore intra- and interspecific density-dependent dispersal in two protists, a prey Tetrahymena pyriformis and its predator Dileptus sp. 3. We observed intraspecific density-dependent dispersal for the prey and interspecific density-dependent dispersal for both the prey and the predator. Decreased prey density lead to an increase in predator dispersal, while prey dispersal increased with predator density. 4. Additional experiments suggest that the prey is able to detect its predator through chemical cues and to modify its dispersal behaviour accordingly. 5. Density-dependent dispersal suggests that regional processes depend on local community dynamics. We discuss the potential consequences of density-dependent dispersal on metacommunity dynamics and stability.     

Predicting food‐web structure with metacommunity models

Synthesis Metacommunity theory aims to elucidate the relative influence of local and regional‐scale processes in generating diversity patterns across the landscape. Metacommunity research has focused largely on assemblages of competing organisms within a single trophic level. Here, we test the ability of metacommunity models to predict the network structure of the aquatic food web found in the leaves of the northern pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea. The species‐sorting and patch‐dynamics models most accurately reproduced nine food web properties, suggesting that local‐scale interactions play an important role in structuring Sarracenia food webs. Our approach can be applied to any well‐resolved food web for which data are available from multiple locations. The metacommunity framework explores the relative influence of local and regional‐scale processes in generating diversity patterns across the landscape. Metacommunity models and empirical studies have focused mostly on assemblages of competing organisms within a single trophic level. Studies of multi‐trophic metacommunities are predominantly restricted to simplified trophic motifs and rarely consider entire food webs. We tested the ability of the patch‐dynamics, species‐sorting, mass‐effects, and neutral metacommunity models, as well as three hybrid models, to reproduce empirical patterns of food web structure and composition in the complex aquatic food web found in the northern pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea. We used empirical data to determine regional species pools and estimate dispersal probabilities, simulated local food‐web dynamics, dispersed species from regional pools into local food webs at rates based on the assumptions of each metacommunity model, and tested their relative fits to empirical data on food‐web structure. The species‐sorting and patch‐dynamics models most accurately reproduced nine food web properties, suggesting that local‐scale interactions were important in structuring Sarracenia food webs. However, differences in dispersal abilities were also important in models that accurately reproduced empirical food web properties. Although the models were tested using pitcher‐plant food webs, the approach we have developed can be applied to any well‐resolved food web for which data are available from multiple locations.     

Towards a multi‐trophic extension of metacommunity ecology

Metacommunity theory provides an understanding of how spatial processes determine the structure and function of communities at local and regional scales. Although metacommunity theory has considered trophic dynamics in the past, it has been performed idiosyncratically with a wide selection of possible dynamics. Trophic metacommunity theory needs a synthesis of a few influential axis to simplify future predictions and tests. We propose an extension of metacommunity ecology that addresses these shortcomings by incorporating variability among trophic levels in ‘spatial use properties’. We define ‘spatial use properties’ as a set of traits (dispersal, migration, foraging and spatial information processing) that set the spatial and temporal scales of organismal movement, and thus scales of interspecific interactions. Progress towards a synthetic predictive framework can be made by (1) documenting patterns of spatial use properties in natural food webs and (2) using theory and experiments to test how trophic structure in spatial use properties affects metacommunity dynamics.     

Lake regionalization and diatom metacommunity structuring in tropical South America

Lakes and their topological distribution across Earth's surface impose ecological and evolutionary constraints on aquatic metacommunities. In this study, we group similar lake ecosystems as metacommunity units influencing diatom community structure. We assembled a database of 195 lakes from the tropical Andes and adjacent lowlands (8°N–30°S and 58–79°W) with associated environmental predictors to examine diatom metacommunity patterns at two different levels: taxon and functional (deconstructed species matrix by ecological guilds). We also derived spatial variables that inherently assessed the relative role of dispersal. Using complementary multivariate statistical techniques (principal component analysis, cluster analysis, nonmetric multidimensional scaling, Procrustes, variance partitioning), we examined diatom–environment relationships among different lake habitats (sediment surface, periphyton, and plankton) and partitioned community variation to evaluate the influence of niche‐ and dispersal‐based assembly processes in diatom metacommunity structure across lake clusters. The results showed a significant association between geographic clusters of lakes based on gradients of climate and landscape configuration and diatom assemblages. Six lake clusters distributed along a latitudinal gradient were identified as functional metacommunity units for diatom communities. Variance partitioning revealed that dispersal mechanisms were a major contributor to diatom metacommunity structure, but in a highly context‐dependent fashion across lake clusters. In the Andean Altiplano and adjacent lowlands of Bolivia, diatom metacommunities are niche assembled but constrained by either dispersal limitation or mass effects, resulting from area, environmental heterogeneity, and ecological guild relationships. Topographic heterogeneity played an important role in structuring planktic diatom metacommunities. We emphasize the value of a guild‐based metacommunity model linked to dispersal for elucidating mechanisms underlying latitudinal gradients in distribution. Our findings reveal the importance of shifts in ecological drivers across climatic and physiographically distinct lake clusters, providing a basis for comparison of broad‐scale community gradients in lake‐rich regions elsewhere. This may help guide future research to explore evolutionary constraints on the rich Neotropical benthic diatom species pool.     

Effect of landscape context on fish metacommunity structuring in stream networks

相似文献   

Identifying the mechanisms that shape fungal community and metacommunity patterns in Yunnan,China

Fungi are key organisms in terrestrial ecosystems, functioning as decomposers, pathogens, and symbionts. Identifying the mechanisms that shape metacommunity patterns is likely to be critical for predicting how ecosystems will respond to global environmental change. Using fungal occurrence data and a hierarchical approach that combines three elements of metacommunity structure—coherence, turnover and boundary clumping—we identified the structures that best describe metacommunity patterns. We related these patterns to underlying environmental and spatial variables known to influence fungal distribution, and determined the relative importance of the environment and geographic distance in structuring fungal metacommunities. Fungal metacommunities had Clementsian and quasi-Clementsian structures, indicating that species distributions were compartmentalized along a dominant environmental gradient. This gradient was strongly associated with annual precipitation, precipitation seasonality and pH for the entire metacommunity. Variance partitioning revealed that the environment was relatively more important than geographic distance in explaining metacommunity patterns, indicating that niche-based processes are crucial in shaping species distributions among sites. However, the strength of the relationship between the latent gradient and environmental factors and the relative contributions of the environment and geographic distance to metacommunity structure varied across groups, suggesting that interactions among habitat, dispersal and life-history might be driving these differences.     

Towards understanding the organisation of metacommunities in highly dynamic ecological systems

Community ecology recognises today that local biological communities are not only affected by local biotic interactions and abiotic environmental conditions, but also by regional processes (e.g. dispersal). While much is known about how metacommunities are organised in space in terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecological systems, their temporal variations remain poorly studied. Here, we address the question of the dynamics of metacommunities in highly variable systems, using intermittent rivers (IRs), those rivers which temporarily stop flowing or dry up, as a model system. We first review how habitat heterogeneity in space and time influences metacommunity organisation. Second, we compare the metacommunities in IRs to those in perennial rivers (PRs) and develop the idea that IRs could undergo highly dynamic shifts due to the temporal variability in local and regional community processes. Third, we develop the idea that in IRs, metacommunities of the wet and dry phases of IRs are closely intertwined, thereby increasing even more their respective temporal dynamics. Last, we provide a roadmap to stimulate further conceptual and empirical developments of metacommunity research and identify possible applications for improving the management of IRs and other highly dynamic ecological systems. Synthesis Extensive research has examined the importance of local biotic interactions, environmental filtering, and regional processes on community assembly. Movement of organisms between sites, i.e. dispersal, is a major set of processes within this framework. However, subsequent metacommunity organisation also varies over time in ecosystems because habitat characteristics such as configuration and composition continuously shift. Intermittent rivers are an ideal set of systems to examine these ideas because these freshwater systems temporarily cease flowing thereby limiting dispersal events. We proposed the hypothesis that metacommunities in dynamic ecosystems will undergo frequent shifts in structure and composition in response to the temporal variability in environmental filtering and dispersal. In addition to providing a roadmap for developing a more dynamic perspective for community ecology, these framework provides direct insights for the management of intermittent rivers.     

Metacommunity Structure of Stream Insects across Three Hierarchical Spatial scales

A major challenge in community ecology is to understand the underlying factors driving metacommunity (i.e., a set of local communities connected through species dispersal) dynamics. However, little is known about the effects of varying spatial scale on the relative importance of environmental and spatial (i.e., dispersal related) factors in shaping metacommunities and on the relevance of different dispersal pathways. Using a hierarchy of insect metacommunities at three spatial scales (a small, within‐stream scale, intermediate, among‐stream scale, and large, among‐sub‐basin scale), we assessed whether the relative importance of environmental and spatial factors shaping metacommunity structure varies predictably across spatial scales, and tested how the importance of different dispersal routes vary across spatial scales. We also studied if different dispersal ability groups differ in the balance between environmental and spatial control. Variation partitioning showed that environmental factors relative to spatial factors were more important for community composition at the within‐stream scale. In contrast, spatial factors (i.e., eigenvectors from Moran's eigenvector maps) relative to environmental factors were more important at the among‐sub‐basin scale. These results indicate that environmental filtering is likely to be more important at the smallest scale with highest connectivity, while dispersal limitation seems to be more important at the largest scale with lowest connectivity. Community variation at the among‐stream and among‐sub‐basin scales were strongly explained by geographical and topographical distances, indicating that overland pathways might be the main dispersal route at the larger scales among more isolated sites. The relative effect of environmental and spatial factors on insect communities varied between low and high dispersal ability groups; this variation was inconsistent among three hierarchical scales. In sum, our study indicates that spatial scale, connectivity, and dispersal ability jointly shape stream metacommunities.     

Dispersal and diversity in experimental metacommunities: linking theory and practice

There has been a recent rise in the number of experiments investigating the effect of dispersal on diversity, with many of the predictions for these tests derived from metacommunity theory. Despite the promise of linking observed relationships between dispersal and diversity to underlying metacommunity processes, empirical studies have faced challenges in providing robust tests of theory. We review experimental studies that have tested how dispersal affects metacommunity diversity to determine why shortcomings emerge, and to provide a framework for empirical tests of theory that capture the processes structuring diversity in natural metacommunities. We first summarize recent experimental work to outline trends in results and to highlight common methods that cause a misalignment between empirical studies and the processes described by theory. We then identify the undesired implications of three widely used experimental methods that homogenize metacommunity structure or species traits, and present alternative methods that have been used to successfully integrate experiments and theory in a biologically relevant way. Finally, we present methodological and theoretical insights from three related ecological fields (coexistence, food web and priority effects theory) that, if integrated into metacommunity experiments, could help isolate the independent and joint effects of local interactions and dispersal on diversity, and reveal the mechanisms underlying observed dispersal–diversity patterns. Together, these methods can provide stronger tests of existing theory and stimulate new theoretical explorations. Synthesis Although metacommunity experiments offer a unique opportunity to test classic and emerging theory on the relationship between dispersal and diversity, several common challenges have hindered robust tests of theory. We outline how emerging theory on the invasion criterion, food webs and priority effects could be help clarify when and how dispersal affects metacommunity diversity, and identify when experimental approaches that homogenize metacommunities fail to test existing theory. By forging better links between theoretical and empirical work, we hope to motivate novel and improved experimental approaches to understanding the joint effects of local and regional processes on diversity.