title: The evolutionary ecology of metacommunities.
abstract: Research on the interactions between evolutionary and ecological dynamics has largely focused on local spatial scales and on relatively simple ecological communities. However, recent work demonstrates that dispersal can drastically alter the interplay between ecological and evolutionary dynamics, often in unexpected ways. We argue that a dispersal-centered synthesis of metacommunity ecology and evolution is necessary to make further progress in this important area of research. We demonstrate that such an approach generates several novel outcomes and substantially enhances understanding of both ecological and evolutionary phenomena in three core research areas at the interface of ecology and evolution.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA. urban@nceas.ucsb.edu
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Urban
authors.forename: Mathew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Leibold
authors.forename: Priyanga
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amarasekare
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Meester
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gomulkiewicz
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hochberg
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Klausmeier
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Loeuille
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Mazancourt
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Norberg
authors.forename: Jelena H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Pantel
authors.forename: Sharon Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vellend
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wade
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003710:Demography; D017753:Ecosystem; D020387:Food Chain; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*