Odonata metacommunity structure in northern ecosystems is driven by temperature and latitude

Abstract

Abstract The metacommunity concept, defined as a set of local communities connected by species dispersal, provides deep understanding of large‐scale ecological processes. The elements of the metacommunity structure (EMS) framework use occurrence data to differentiate among different patterns (i.e., checkerboard, nestedness, species turnover). Metacommunities of tropical Odonata show species turnover following latitude and temperature gradients but there are no such large‐scale studies for other regions. We performed EMS analysis with data for the Odonata of British Columbia, Canada, testing the role of five environmental variables (temperature, latitude, altitude, precipitation, landcover typology) in structuring the metacommunities and their turnover. The suborder Anisoptera drives the general pattern, with the communities showing a Clementsian‐type response (groups of species that replace each other along the environmental gradients) following temperature and latitude ordering. The Clementsian pattern determined by site temperatures reflects the turnover from a group of cold‐adapted species to one of warm‐adapted species, separated by many species with more generalised temperature requirements. Similarly, the Clementsian pattern associated with the latitude gradient indicates the substitution of a low‐latitude group in the south with a high‐latitude group in the north. The sites ordered by landcover did not show significant coherence and turnover. In a macro‐scale framework, Odonata species assemblages seem to be sensitive to the climatic and geographic variables of local sites (i.e., temperature and latitude), regardless of the surrounding habitat typology. The role of such variables in shaping the assembly of Odonata communities should be considered in large‐scale management and conservation projects.