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.

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