Data from: Stream fish community dynamics: a critical synthesis

Ecologists have long struggled to understand community dynamics. In this groundbreaking book, leading fish ecologists William Matthews and Edie Marsh-Matthews apply long-term studies of stream fish communities to several enduring questions. This critical synthesis reaches to the heart of ecological theory, testing concepts against the four decades of data the authors have collected from numerous warm-water stream fish communities in the central and eastern United States.

Stream Fish Community Dynamics draws together the work of a single research team to provide fresh analyses of the short- and long-term dynamics of numerous streams, each with multiple sampling sites. Conducting repeated surveys of fish communities at temporal scales from months to decades, the authors’ research findings will fascinate anyone searching for a deeper understanding of community ecology. The study sites covered by this book range from small headwater creeks to large prairie rivers in Oklahoma and from Ozark and Ouachita mountain streams in Arkansas to the upland Roanoke River in Virginia. The book includes• A comparison of all global and local communities with respect to community composition at the species and family level, emergent community properties, and the relationship between those emergent properties and the environments of the study sites• Analyses of traits of individual species that are important to their distribution or success in harsh environments• A review of evidence for the importance of interactions—including competition and predation—in community dynamics of stream fishes• An assessment of disturbance effects in fish community dynamics• New analysis of the short- and long-term dynamics of variation in stream fish communities, illustrating the applicability and importance of the "loose equilibrium concept"• New analyses and comparisons of spatiotemporal variation in community dynamics and beta diversity partitioning• An overview of the effects of fish in ecosystems in the central and eastern United States

The book ends with a summary chapter that places the authors' findings in broader contexts and describes how the "loose equilibrium concept"—which may be the most appropriate default assumption for dynamics of stream fishes in the changing climate of the future—applies to many kinds of stream fish communities.

生态学家长久以来始终在努力解析群落动态的核心规律。在这部开创性著作中，顶尖鱼类生态学家威廉·马修斯（William Matthews）与伊迪·马什-马修斯（Edie Marsh-Matthews）将溪流鱼类群落的长期研究成果，应用于多个长期悬而未决的生态学问题。这部极具分量的系统性综述直击生态学理论的核心，依托作者在美国中东部与东部众多暖水性溪流鱼类群落中积累的四十年观测数据，对各类生态学概念进行了实证检验。
《溪流鱼类群落动态》（Stream Fish Community Dynamics）汇集了单个研究团队的全部研究工作，对全球众多溪流（每个溪流均设有多个采样点）的短期与长期群落动态展开了全新分析。研究团队以月至数十年的时间尺度对鱼类群落开展重复调查，其研究成果将吸引所有渴望深入探索群落生态学的读者。本书涵盖的研究样地范围广泛：从俄克拉荷马州的小型源头溪流到大型草原河流，从阿肯色州的奥扎克（Ozark）与瓦希塔（Ouachita）山地溪流，再到弗吉尼亚州的高地罗阿诺克河（Roanoke River）。
本书包含以下内容：
• 针对物种与科阶元的群落组成、群落涌现属性，以及该类涌现属性与研究样地环境间的关联，开展全球与本地群落的系统性对比分析
• 分析影响物种在严苛环境中分布与生存能力的个体性状特征
• 综述了种间相互作用（包括竞争与捕食作用）在溪流鱼类群落动态中重要性的相关研究证据
• 评估了干扰作用对鱼类群落动态的影响
• 针对溪流鱼类群落变异的短期与长期动态展开全新分析，阐明了"松散平衡假说"（loose equilibrium concept）的适用性与重要性
• 针对群落动态的时空变异与β多样性（beta diversity）分解开展全新分析与对比
• 综述了美国中东部与东部地区鱼类对生态系统的影响

本书最后设有总结章节，将作者的研究发现置于更广阔的研究语境中，并阐释了"松散平衡假说"（loose equilibrium concept）——这一假说或许是未来气候变化背景下溪流鱼类群落动态最适宜的默认假设——如何适用于多种类型的溪流鱼类群落。