Towards an applied metaecology

Luís César Schiesari (1) , Miguel G. Matias (2) , Paulo Inácio Prado (3) , Mathew A. Leibold (4) , Cécile H Albert (5, 6) , Jennifer G Howeth (7) , Shawn J Leroux (8) , Renata Pardini (3) , Tadeu Siqueira (9) , Pedro H.S. Brancalion (10) , Mar Cabeza (11) , Renato Mendes Coutinho (12) , José Alexandre Felizola Diniz-Filho (1) , Bertrand Fournier (13) , Daniel J.G. Lahr (3) , Thomas M Lewinsohn (14) , Ayana Martins (15) , Carla Morsello (1) , Pedro R Peres-Neto (13) , Valério D Pillar (16) , Diego P Vázquez (17)

1 Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Universidade de São Paulo
2 MNCN - Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales [Madrid]
3 Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo
4 UF|Biology - Department of Biology [Gainesville]
5 IMBE - Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale
6 Department of Biology [McGill University]
7 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama
8 Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland
9 UNESP, Departamento de Ecologia
10 Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, Universidade de São Paulo
11 HELSUS - Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science
12 Centro de Matemática, Computacão e Cognicão, Universidade Federal do ABC
13 Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec
14 UNICAMP - Universidade Estadual de Campinas = University of Campinas
15 Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution, Center of Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry, EAWAG Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
16 UFRN - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte [Natal]
17 Argentine Institute for Dryland Research

The complexity of ecological systems is a major challenge for practitioners and decision-makers who work to avoid, mitigate and manage environmental change. Here, we illustrate how metaecology-the study of spatial interdependencies among ecological systems through fluxes of organisms, energy, and matter-can enhance understanding and improve managing environmental change at multiple spatial scales. We present several case studies illustrating how the framework has leveraged decision-making in conservation, restoration and risk management. Nevertheless, an explicit incorporation of metaecology is still uncommon in the applied ecology literature, and in action guidelines addressing environmental change. This is unfortunate because the many facets of environmental change can be framed as modifying spatial context, connectedness and dominant regulating processes-the defining features of metaecolog-ical systems. Narrowing the gap between theory and practice will require incorporating system-specific realism in otherwise predominantly conceptual studies, as well as deliberately studying scenarios of environmental change. ଝ Dedicated to the memory of Ilkka Hanski (1953-2016), whose lifetime contribution to ecology has been pivotal in inspiring and facilitating the applied side of metapopulation theory. ଝଝ Authorship follows alphabetical order between the fifth and ninth authors, and between the tenth and twenty-first authors.

Domains: Environmental Sciences

Luís César Schiesari, Miguel G. Matias, Paulo Inácio Prado, Mathew A. Leibold, Cécile H Albert, et al.. Towards an applied metaecology. Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation, 2019, 17 (4), pp.172-181. ⟨10.1016/j.pecon.2019.11.001⟩. ⟨hal-02400023⟩