Ecotones have been considered as unique environments, and the concepts of edge effect and ecotonal species have been widely used, especially in avian community ecology. We studied the patterns of bird densities across heath-wood edges at replicated sites in three locations in southeastern Australia. Multivariate analysis showed that the bird community in the ecotone was intermediate between the...

Article history: Received 9 July 2007 Received in revised form 2 January 2008 Accepted 10 January 2008 Ecotones are zones of transition between two adjacent ecological systems and are characterized by a high rate of change compared to these adjacent areas. They are dynamic entities with both a spatial and temporal property, reflected in an ecotone width and location, which vary across time duri...

We studied 20th century lower forest–grassland ecotone shift in the Centennial Valley in southwestern Montana and investigated the effects of livestock herbivory on ecotone shift at a local spatial scale and a decadal time scale. A total of 525 aspen (Populus tremuloides) and 1703 Douglasfir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) trees were cored and 10,168 saplings were mapped along the ecotone at five sites...

Article history: Received 25 August 2008 Received in revised form 22 November 2008 Accepted 26 November 2008 Ecotones are gradual transitions between two adjacent ecological systems. Ecotones are characterized by their spatial properties which are reflected in an ecotone width and location and the temporal variation across time during succession or environmental change on both a local and a glo...

Northeastern U.S. farms are often situated adjacent to forestland due to the heterogeneous nature of the landscape. We investigated how forested areas influence Carabidae diversity within nearby crop fields by establishing transects of pitfall traps. Trapping extended across a forest-agriculture ecotone consisting of maize, an intermediate mowed grass margin, and a forest edge. Carabidae divers...

Litter decomposition during winter can provide essential nutrients for plant growth in the subsequent growing season, which plays important role in preventing the expansion of dry areas and maintaining the stability of ecotone ecosystems. However, limited information is currently available on the contributions of soil fauna to litter decomposition during winter in such ecosystems. Therefore, a ...

Ecological phenomena are evident over a broad spectrum of space and time scales. Ecotones, being defined as zones of transition between adjacent ecological systems, also must occur over an equally broad spectrum of space and time scales. Scale-dependent constraints influence ecological phenomena and resulting zones of transition; however, in traditional ecotone studies little treatment has been...

This research reconstructs a 2000-year vegetation history of the forest tension zone, an ecotone between the mixed coniferous-deciduous (Laurentian) forest and the eastern broadleaf forest, in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, USA. Different forest communities relative to the ecotone are represented by pollen analysis of sediment cores from three lakes: Hicks Lake (75 km north of the ecotone), C...

Cele Oasis on the southern edge of Tarim Basin was used to investigate the impact of human activity on the soil environment of the oasis–desert ecotone during the oasis expansion process. Since farmland is extending into the oasis–desert ecotone during oasis expansion, reclaimed farmland and control plots within the ecotone were investigated. The variations in soil moisture, soil nutrients and ...

We studied five lower forest–grassland ecotones in the Darhad Valley in northern Mongolia and investigated the effects of 20th Century grazing regimes and changes in grazing management on ecotone dynamics at a local scale. A total of 2968 Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) trees were cored and tree-age distribution was constructed to determine 20th Century tree establishment. Tree age and location...