ecotonen.

1904 F. E. Clements in Bot. Surv. Nebraska No. 7. 153 Zonation in a habitat... The line that connects the points of accumulated or abrupt change in the symmetry is a stress line or ecotone... Ecotones are well marked between formations, particularly where the medium changes: they are less distinct within formations. It is obvious that an ecotone separates two different series of zones in the one case, and merely two distinct zones in the other.

1924 Jrnl. Ecol. 12 250 Both species develop rather small forms on the prairie, and reach their maximum size on the open herbaceous slopes of the ecotone between brush-prairie and deciduous belt.

1967 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. 5 xi. 265 Mixing along the boundaries of two water masses may result in nature in an increase of the diversity of frontier or ecotone populations.

2002 Observer Mag. 24 Nov. 37/2 The Chinko region is what ecologists call an ecotone, a zone where two natural habitats (in this case, forest and savanna) meet, resulting in exceptional biodiversity.

1934 Jrnl. Ecol. 22 206 There is considerable difference in the soils in different parts of this ecotonal region, which stretches from eluvial soils one one side to alluvial on the other.

1990 Forestry 63 100 A warming of 1°C in July/August could result in the ecotonal forest border shifting 40 km to the north.