Disturbance‐driven alteration of patch connectivity determines local biodiversity recovery within metacommunities

Understanding the capacity of ecological systems to withstand and recover from disturbances is a major challenge for research in context environmental changes. Past has mostly focused on local effects biodiversity recovery, while alterations inter-patch connectivity induced by have received comparatively less attention. Here, we investigated effect recovery within metacommunities. Our specific focus was drying river networks, which are characterised high variability patch connectivity. We found marked variations among sites groups organisms with contrasting dispersal modes, were explained amount loss due events. Local communities flying recovered more efficiently events than strictly aquatic former group overcome hydrological loss. As general rule, decreases community regardless location network, mode or spatial extent. The relationship between networks applicable any network