@article {KNZ001092, title = {Stream insect occupancy-frequency patterns and metapopulation structure}, journal = {Oecologia}, volume = {151}, year = {2007}, pages = {313 -321}, abstract = {An understanding of the distribution patterns of organisms and the underlying factors is a fundamental goal of ecology. One commonly applied approach to visualize these is the analysis of occupancy-frequency patterns. We used data sets describing stream insect distributions from different regions of North America to analyze occupancy-frequency patterns and assess the effects of spatial scale, sampling intensity, and taxonomic resolution on these patterns. Distributions were dominated by satellite taxa (those occurring in <=10\% of sites), whereas the occurrence of core taxa (occurring in >=90\% of sites) determined the overall modality of occupancy-frequency patterns. The proportions of satellite taxa increased with spatial scale and showed positive relationships with sampling intensity (r 2=0.74{\textendash}0.96). Furthermore, analyses of data sets from New York (USA) showed that generic-level assessments underestimated the satellite class and occasionally shifted occupancy-frequency distributions from unimodal to bimodal. Our results indicate that, regardless of species- or generic-level taxonomy, stream insect communities are characterized by satellite species and that the proportion of satellite species increases with spatial scale and sampling intensity. Thus, niche-based models of occupancy-frequency patterns better characterize stream insect communities than metapopulation models such as the core-satellite species hypothesis.}, keywords = {LTER-KNZ, aquatic insect, Core-satellite, Distribution, Sampling intensity, spatial scale}, doi = {10.1007/s00442-006-0596-8}, author = {Heatherly, T. and M.R. Whiles and D.J. Gibson and Scott. L. Collins and Huryn, A.D. and Jackson, J.K. and Palmer, M.A.} }