Figure 1.

Applying the metacommunity concept to microbial communities of insects, in this case a community of hosts (Drosophila) and parasitoids. Each individual insect is a “patch” that harbors a local community of endosymbiotic bacteria. The green area represents the regional metacommunity of hosts. Bacteria can be present both within the gut and inside host cells and hemolymph (with Wolbachia and Spiroplasma as specific examples of the latter category). Differently colored circles within an insect each represent a different bacterial genus. Arrows indicate horizontal transmission (dispersal) of bacteria among local communities (host microbiomes). This diagram represents one of multiple ways to apply metacommunity theory to host–symbiont systems; see Table 1 scenarios B‐E for alternative approaches