Two controversial tenets of metapopulation biology are whether patch quality and the surrounding matrix are more important to turnover (colonization and extinction) than biogeography (patch area and isolation) and whether factors governing turnover during equilibrium also dominate nonequilibrium dynamics. We tested both tenets using 18 years of surveys for two secretive wetland birds, black and Virginia rails, during (1) a period of equilibrium with stable occupancy and (2) after drought and arrival of West Nile Virus (WNV), which resulted in WNV infections in rails, increased extinction and decreased colonization probabilities modified by WNV, nonequilibrium dynamics for both species, and occupancy decline for black rails. Area (primarily) and isolation (secondarily) drove turnover during both stable and unstable metapopulation dynamics, greatly exceeding the effects of patch quality and matrix conditions. Moreover, slopes between turnover and patch characteristics changed little between equilibrium and nonequilibrium, confirming the overriding influences of biogeographic factors on turnover.

These data comprise annual surveys for the occurrence of black and Virginia Rails at 307 wetland patches from 2002–2019, characteristics of the patches and the matrix surrounding the patches, the number of rails captured and the proportion that tested seropositive for West Nile Virus from 2008–2013, and annual climatic conditions and West Nile Virus index measures for each year of study.

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