Summary The objectives of our research were to examine commonness–rarity patterns in fish communities in networks of intermittent streams. We quantified species abundance distributions and the importance of nestedness and turnover to community dissimilarity and then related commonness to colonisation, extinction and physiological tolerance. Patterns and relationships were evaluated spatially among sites and temporally within sites during non‐drought and drought periods in tallgrass prairie streams of eastern Kansas, U.S.A. Supra‐seasonal drought during 2011–2013 resulted in complete or partial drying of some sites and provided an opportunity to evaluate whether commonness was predictive of rather than predicted by colonisation and extinction. Abundance was used to predict re‐colonisation in desiccated reaches and persistence in drying pools. Few species were common, while most were rare regardless of drought, and nestedness drove community dissimilarity across sites. Common species had higher colonisation and lower extinction than rarer species, but physiological tolerance was unrelated to commonness. Abundant species were generally the first to re‐colonise desiccated reaches, but pre‐drought abundance did not predict persistence in partially desiccated reaches. Although common species were the first to colonise and the last to go extinct, we were unable to determine whether commonness was predictive of rather than predicted by colonisation and extinction. Regardless, our study demonstrates linkages among commonness, colonisation and extinction.

Summary Stream fish can regulate their environment through direct and indirect pathways, and the relative influence of communities with different taxonomic and functional richness on ecosystem properties likely depends on habitat structure. Given this complexity, it is not surprising that observational studies of how stream fish communities influence ecosystems have shown mixed results. In this study, we evaluated the effect of an observed gradient of taxonomic (zero, one, two or three species) and functional (zero, one or two groups) richness of fishes on several key ecosystem properties in experimental stream mesocosms. Our study simulated small (less than two metres wide) headwater prairie streams with a succession of three pool‐riffle structures (upstream, middle and downstream) per mesocosm. Ecosystem responses included chlorophyll a from floating algal mats and benthic algae, benthic organic matter, macroinvertebrates (all as mass per unit area), algal filament length and stream metabolism (photosynthesis and respiration rate). Ecosystem responses were analysed individually using general linear mixed models. Significant treatment (taxonomic and functional richness) by habitat (pools and riffles) interactions were found for all but one ecosystem response variable. After accounting for location (upstream, middle and downstream) effects, the presence of one or two grazers resulted in shorter mean algal filament lengths in pools compared to no‐fish controls. These observations suggest grazers can maintain short algal filaments in pools, which may inhibit long filaments from reaching the surface. Accordingly, floating algal mats decreased in mid‐ and downstream locations in grazer treatment relative to no‐fish controls. At the scale of the entire reach, gross primary productivity and respiration were greater in treatments with two grazer species compared to mixed grazer/insectivore or control treatments. The distribution of stream resources across habitat types and locations within a reach can therefore be influenced by the taxonomic and functional composition of fishes in small prairie streams. Thus, disturbances that alter diversity of these systems might have unexpected ecosystem‐level consequences.

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