1 Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Paterna, Valencia, Spain.
2 Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
3 Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, 13, Costa Rica.
4 Department of Taxonomy and Ecology, University of Babes-Bolyia, Cluj Napoca, Romania.
5 Emil Racovitza Institute of Speleology, Cluj Napoca, Romania.
6 Centro GEMA-Genómica, Ecología & Medio Ambiente, Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile.
7 GRECO, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University of Girona, Girona, Spain.
8 Museo de Zoología, Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Ecología Tropical, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica.

Prior research on metacommunities has largely focused on snapshot surveys, often overlooking temporal dynamics. In this study, our aim was to compare the insights obtained from metacommunity analyses based on a spatial approach repeated over time, with a spatio-temporal approach that consolidates all data into a single model. We empirically assessed the influence of temporal variation in the environment and spatial connectivity on the structure of metacommunities in tropical and Mediterranean temporary ponds. Employing a standardized methodology across both regions, we surveyed multiple freshwater taxa in three time periods within the same hydrological year from multiple temporary ponds in each region. To evaluate how environmental, spatial and temporal influences vary between the two approaches, we used nonlinear variation partitioning analyses based on generalized additive models. Overall, this study underscores the importance of adopting spatio-temporal analytics to better understand the processes shaping metacommunities. While the spatial approach suggested that environmental factors had a greater influence, our spatio-temporal analysis revealed that spatial connectivity was the primary driver influencing metacommunity structure in both regions. Temporal effects were equally important as environmental effects, suggesting a significant role of ecological succession in metacommunity structure.