Scientists need both a local and regional perspective to
conserve species which are often distributed heterogeneously
across natural landscapes. This is because the occurrence of a
species in a community can be determined both by its ability to
survive local conditions and its ability to get there through
dispersal. At the same time, isolation can lead to the evolution
of populations in response to local conditions. Hence, the same
landscape mosaic of patches that leads us to examine regional
linkages among communities also may facilitate the evolution of
local species interactions. Therefore an integrated perspective
on networks of interconnected communities, a so-called
metacommunity, requires that we understand both the ecological
and evolutionary implications of varying degrees of spatial
isolation. Toward this end, I am assimilating data from a wide
range of data sources to determine the degree to which species
traits vary as a result of local community conditions, their
location within the landscape, an