ecotone
Americannoun
noun
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A transitional zone between two ecological communities, as between a forest and grassland or a river and its estuary. An ecotone has its own characteristics in addition to sharing certain characteristics of the two communities.
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See also edge effect
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ecotone
1900–05; eco- + tone < Greek tónos tension
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The trail seems to transverse through an ecotone, a transitional zone between plant communities, switching between high desert and pine forest ecosystems.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2025
“Ari, do you know what an ecotone is?”
From "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Saenz
“It’s the terrain where two different ecosystems meet. In an ecotone, the landscape will contain elements of the two different ecosystems. It’s like a natural borderlands.”
From "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Saenz
The ranges of T. ornata and T. carolina overlap in the broad belt of prairie-forest ecotone in the central United States.
From Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz by John M. Legler
The movement into a bare area is likewise continuous, though it is necessarily not mutual, and hence there is no ecotone during the earlier stages.
From Introduction to the Science of Sociology by Robert Ezra Park
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
