Premium
Temporal scale of environmental correlations affects ecological synchrony
Author(s) -
Desharnais Robert A.,
Reuman Daniel C.,
Costantino Robert F.,
Cohen Joel E.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/ele.13155
Subject(s) - metapopulation , biological dispersal , ecology , population , habitat , biology , demography , sociology
Abstract Population densities of a species measured in different locations are often correlated over time, a phenomenon referred to as synchrony. Synchrony results from dispersal of individuals among locations and spatially correlated environmental variation, among other causes. Synchrony is often measured by a correlation coefficient. However, synchrony can vary with timescale. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the timescale‐specificity of environmental correlation affects the overall magnitude and timescale‐specificity of synchrony, and that these effects are modified by population dispersal. Our laboratory experiments linked populations of flour beetles by changes in habitat size and dispersal. Linear filter theory, applied to a metapopulation model for the experimental system, predicted the observed timescale‐specific effects. The timescales at which environmental covariation occurs can affect the population dynamics of species in fragmented habitats.