Metacommunity ecology represents a framework for identifying linkages between environmental heterogeneity, spatial processes, and local communities of organisms. Despite advancements in metacommunity theory, there remains a need to understand temporal dynamics of multi-taxa metacommunities in variable ecosystems such as intermittent streams. We present a review of literature, three recent conceptual models, and a case study regarding metacommunity temporal dynamics in intermittent streams. The literature review revealed that the cumulative number of studies addressing temporal dynamics in aquatic metacommunities steadily increased between 2012 and 2020. Intermittent streams were the fourth-most commonly studied ecosystem and interdisciplinary studies involving multiple taxa were the third-most common taxonomic focus. The most common analytical method was variation partitioning, and analysis of beta diversity components surpassed both distance decay and elements of metacommunity structure as the second-most used method from 2018 to 2020. Three recent conceptual models describing metacommunity dynamics in intermittent streams predict: (a) higher local species richness (i.e., alpha diversity) during rewetting and wet hydrologic phases, (b) stronger effects of dispersal over environmental sorting during the rewetting and wet phases, and (c) emergence of primarily nested structures during the wet hydrologic phase. When tested in a case study focused on microbes, aquatic invertebrates, and fishes, each of these predictions were partially, but not completely supported. Our results reveal expanding interest in temporal aspects of aquatic metacommunity structure and highlight how research in intermittent streams is poised to simultaneously advance basic metacommunity ecology and applied conservation biology through continued refinement of new and existing conceptual syntheses.

中文翻译：

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元社区结构中的时间轨迹：间歇性流跨学科研究的见解

元社区生态学代表了一个框架，用于确定环境异质性、空间过程和当地生物群落之间的联系。尽管元群落理论取得了进步，但仍然需要了解可变生态系统（如间歇性溪流）中多分类群元群落的时间动态。我们介绍了文献综述、三个最近的概念模型，以及一个关于间歇性流中元社区时间动态的案例研究。文献综述显示，2012 年至 2020 年间，针对水生元群落时间动态的研究累积数量稳步增加。间歇性溪流是第四大最常研究的生态系统，涉及多个分类群的跨学科研究是第三大最常见的分类重点。最常见的分析方法是变异划分，对 β 多样性成分的分析超过了距离衰减和元群落结构元素，成为 2018 年至 2020 年第二常用的方法。 最近三个描述间歇流中元群落动态的概念模型预测：（a ) 在再润湿和潮湿水文阶段，当地物种丰富度更高（即，α 多样性），（b）在再润湿和潮湿阶段，扩散对环境分选的影响更强，（c）在潮湿水文阶段，主要嵌套结构的出现。在针对微生物、水生无脊椎动物和鱼类的案例研究中进行测试时，这些预测中的每一个都得到了部分支持，但并不完全支持。