User:Alicelils/sandbox
An ecotone is often associated with an ecocline: a "physical transition zone" between two systems. The ecotone and ecocline concepts are sometimes confused: an ecocline can signal an ecotone chemically (ex: pH or salinity gradient), or microclimatically (hydrothermal gradient) between two ecosystems.
In contrast:
- an ecocline is a variation of the physicochemical environment dependent of one or two physico-chemical factors of life, and thus presence/absence of certain species.[1] An ecocline can be a thermocline, chemocline (chemical gradient), halocline (salinity gradient) or pycnocline (variations in density of water induced by temperature or salinity).
- an ecotone describes a variation in species prevalence and is often not strictly dependent on a major physical factor separating an ecosystem from another, with resulting habitat variability. An ecotone is often unobtrusive and harder to measure.
"an ecotone is the area where two communities interact. Ecotones can be easily identified by distinct change in soil gradient and soil composition between two communities."[2]