The influence of the two bordering communities on each other is known as the edge effect. Where is an ecotone in a forest clearing?Īn ecotone may exist along a broad belt or in a small pocket, such as a forest clearing, where two local communities blend together. Ecotone, a transitional area of vegetation between two different plant communities, such as forest and grassland. What does Encyclopaedia Britannica mean by ecotone?Įncyclopaedia Britannica’s editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree…. In order to understand this term clearly, you can consider the example of marshy land. One may also consider this place as a transition zone, since it’s different than either of the two ecosystems that it lies between. Ecotones occur at multiple spatial scales and range from natural ecotones between ecosystems and biomes to human-generated boundaries.Īn ecotone is an area that represents the boundary between two ecosystems. What is ecotone effect?Įcotones are areas of steep transition between ecological communities, ecosystems, and/or ecological regions along an environmental or other gradient. Examples of ecotones include marshlands (between dry and wet ecosystems), mangrove forests (between terrestrial and marine ecosystems), grasslands (between desert and forest), and estuaries (between saltwater and freshwater). What is an ecotone and give two examples?Īn ecotone is an area that acts as a boundary or a transition between two ecosystems.

It is when the ecosystem has become balanced and there is little risk of an interfering event or change to mutate the environment. The beach, as an ecotone between land and sea, possesses all these attributes.Ĭlimax – the climax stage is the last stage of an ecosystem. Is Beach an ecotone?Įcotones attract biologists for a variety of reasons. The ecotone contains not only species common to the communities on both sides it may also include a number of highly adaptable species that tend to colonize such transitional areas. Some of the very known examples of ecotones are marshlands (between dry and wet ecosystems), mangrove forests (between terrestrial and marine ecosystems), grasslands (between desert and forest), and estuaries (between saltwater and freshwater).Įcotones are particularly significant for mobile animals, as they can exploit more than one set of habitats within a short distance.