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In theory, the rate of interpatch dispersal significantly influences the population dynamics of predators and their prey, yet there are relatively few field experiments that provide a strong link between these two processes. In tallgrass prairies of North America, the planthopper, Prokelisia crocea, and its specialist parasitoid, Anagrus columbi, exist among discrete host‐plant patches (prairie cordgrass, Spartina pectinata). In many areas, the matrix, or habitat between patches, has become dominated by the invasive exotic grass, smooth brome (Bromus inermis). We performed a landscape‐level field study in which replicate cordgrass networks (identical in number, size, quality, and distribution of cordgrass patches) were embedded in a matrix composed of either mudflat (a native matrix habitat) or smooth brome. Mark–recapture experiments with the planthopper and parasitoid revealed that the rate of movement among …