Our understanding of how biotic interactions influence animal community assembly is largely restricted to local systems due to the difficulty of obtaining ecologically meaningful assemblage data across large spatial extents. Here, we used thousands of spatio-phenologically high-resolution assemblages across three distinct European regions together with a functional diversity approach to understand community assembly of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), an insect group characterized by a pronounced competitive reproductive biology. We found that adult dragonfly, but not damselfly, assemblages were consistently composed of species morphologically more different than expected by chance based on the traits that enhance their interspecific reproductive encounters. These results provide consistent evidence for the role of competition in the assembly of animal communities, which we interpret is most likely caused by the territorial reproductive biology of dragonflies. Support for competition varied both spatially and seasonally following theoretical expectations, as it was strongest in locations and seasonal moments with low thermal stress (i.e. warm conditions) and high niche packing. Our study illustrates how spatio-temporal diversity patterns arise from variation in assembly processes.

中文翻译：

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蜻蜓的性状过度分散揭示了跨空间和季节的群落组装中竞争的作用和驱动因素

由于难以在大空间范围内获得具有生态意义的组合数据，我们对生物相互作用如何影响动物群落组装的理解在很大程度上仅限于局部系统。在这里，我们使用了三个不同欧洲地区的数千个空间物候高分辨率组合以及功能多样性方法来了解蜻蜓和豆娘（蜻蜓目）的群落组装，蜻蜓和豆娘是一种具有明显竞争性生殖生物学特征的昆虫群体。我们发现，成年蜻蜓（而非豆娘）的组合始终是由形态上比偶然预期更加不同的物种组成的，这是基于增强其种间繁殖遭遇的特征。这些结果为竞争在动物群落组装中的作用提供了一致的证据，我们认为这很可能是由蜻蜓的领地生殖生物学引起的。根据理论预期，对竞争的支持在空间和季节上都有所不同，因为它在低热应力（即温暖条件）和高利基包装的地点和季节时刻最强。我们的研究说明了时空多样性模式是如何因装配过程的变化而产生的。