Ecotone

For other uses, see Ecotone (disambiguation).
Reed beds are a common form of lakeside ecotone. The beds tend to accumulate organic matter which is then colonised by trees, forcing the reeds further into the lake.

An ecotone is a transition area between two biological communities,[1] where two communities meet and integrate.[2] It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local (the zone between a field and forest) or regional (the transition between forest and grassland ecosystems).[3] An ecotone may appear on the ground as a gradual blending of the two communities across a broad area, or it may manifest itself as a sharp boundary line.

  1. ^ Senft, Amanda (2009). Species Diversity Patterns at Ecotones (PDF). University of North Carolina. Archived from the original (Master's thesis) on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  2. ^ Pearl, Solomon Eldra; Berg, Linda R.; Martin, Diana W. (2011). Biology. Belmont, California: Brooks/Cole.[page needed]
  3. ^ Smith, Robert Leo (1974). Ecology and Field Biology (2nd ed.). Harper & Row. p. 251. ISBN 978-0-06-500976-7.