Evidence on ecotone concepts from switch, environmental and anthropogenic ecotones

Four contrasting ecotones were sampled to address three questions: (1) Are there 'ecotonal' species, (2) Do ecotones possess higher (or lower) species richness than the adjacent communities? and (3) Are exotic species more likely to occur in ecotones? One ecotone was edaphic, one was appar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of vegetation science Vol. 11; no. 6; pp. 903 - 910
Main Authors:	Lloyd, Kelvin M., McQueen, Amelia A.M., Lee, Beatrice J., Wilson, Robert C.B., Walker, Susan, Wilson, J. Bastow
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-12-2000 Opulus Press
Subjects:	Cemeteries Ecotonal species Ecotones Exotic species Forest habitats Introduced species Landscape ecology New Zealand Ordination Pastures Species Species richness Vegetation Wetland ecology
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Summary:	Four contrasting ecotones were sampled to address three questions: (1) Are there 'ecotonal' species, (2) Do ecotones possess higher (or lower) species richness than the adjacent communities? and (3) Are exotic species more likely to occur in ecotones? One ecotone was edaphic, one was apparently caused by a positive-feedback switch, one was environmental/anthropogenic and one was entirely anthropogenic. The exact position of each ecotone was established from the spatial change in ordination scores. Ecotonal species, in the sense of species mainly restricted to the ecotone at the site, were present in all four ecotones. All but one of the ecotonal species were native. The switch ecotone and the purely anthropogenic ecotone also contained native species that were significantly more frequent in the ecotone than in either adjacent community. Species richness was intermediate between that of the two adjacent communities in three of the ecotones. In the environmental/anthropogenic ecotone, species richness was higher than in adjacent communities, but not significantly so. There were appreciable numbers of exotic species in the two ecotones with anthropogenic influence, one of which had a proportion of exotic species intermediate between the two adjacent communities. Contrary to theory, the proportion of exotic species in the second ecotone was significantly lower than in either adjacent community. We conclude that all three features we examined depend on the particular ecological conditions and the ecology of the species present; they are not intrinsic properties of ecotones.
Bibliography:	istex:ED9593881BABA9E7E953AFFCF614CCC26D3BC60A ArticleID:JVS1017 ark:/67375/WNG-9GRGD9KN-H Connor & Edgar (1987) and references therein and Stace (1997) except where indicated. Nomenclature
ISSN:	1100-9233 1654-1103
DOI:	10.2307/3236560