What is the difference between Ecocline and ecotone?
An ecocline refers to the gradient change of physicochemical characteristics between two ecosystems, while an ecotone is a designated new zone created in combination between two homogenous ecosystems.
What is ecotone and edge effect?
Ecotones are harsh conditions for interior organisms but zones of opportunities for edge organisms. The greater number of landscape elements, vegetation complexity and mixed ecosystem characteristics result in greater density and biodiversity along the ecotones. This phenomenon is called the edge effect.
What is meant by the term ecotone?
ecotone, a transitional area of vegetation between two different plant communities, such as forest and grassland. An ecotone may exist along a broad belt or in a small pocket, such as a forest clearing, where two local communities blend together.
Which one is an example of ecotone?
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).
Where do ecotones occur?
Ecotones occur at edges and physical boundaries, where fresh water meets salt water and water meets land, where tides roll up and down coasts, where woodlands become pastures and the fir trees of taiga forests give way to the lichen and grass of tundra.
What is Polyclimax theory?
Polyclimax Theory was advanced by Tansley (1935). It proposes that the climax vegetation of a region consists of more than one vegetation climaxes controlled by soil moisture, soil nutrients, topography, slope exposure, fire, and animal activity.
What is Ecocline example?
The ecocline usually describes the ecotone in which a series of communities display a continuous gradient. It is the gradual or continuous change of an ecosystem or community. A wetland would be an example of an ecocline in that it is a gradual transition from a terrestrial ecosystem to an aquatic one.
What is the difference between edge and ecotone?
Edge effect refers to the changes in population or community structures that occur at the boundary of two habitats (ecotone). Sometimes the number of species and the population density of some of the species in the ecotone is much greater than either community.
What do you mean by edge effect?
Definition of edge effect : the effect of an abrupt transition between two quite different adjoining ecological communities on the numbers and kinds of organisms in the marginal habitat.
What causes ecotones?
Mountain ranges often create such ecotones, due to the wide variety of climatic conditions experienced on their slopes. Different intensity of disturbances can cause landslides, land shifts, or movement of sediment that can create these vegetation patches and ecotones.