ecotoneswithout

Ecotoneswithout is a term used in landscape ecology to describe landscapes that lack distinct ecotones, or transition zones, between neighboring ecological communities. In such systems, boundaries between habitats are diffuse or absent, and species composition changes gradually rather than abruptly across space.

The word combines ecotone with without to denote the absence of a discrete boundary. While not widely adopted as a formal scientific category, ecotoneswithout can serve as a useful concept for examining the ecological consequences of habitat homogenization, climate-driven gradients, or edge-smoothing processes in managed or altered landscapes.

Causes include habitat homogenization from intensive agriculture or monocultures, urban expansion and fragmentation that blur edges, invasive species that replace diverse communities, and climate change that shifts species ranges in a coordinated, large-scale manner. Disturbances such as fires or logging can also erase prior edge delineations, producing more gradual transitions.

Ecological implications include changes in biodiversity patterns, with potentially lower beta diversity along transects and altered species interactions that previously occurred at edges. The absence of sharp edges can modify ecological processes such as pollination, seed dispersal, and microclimatic buffering. While some edge-related stresses may be reduced, the loss of distinct edge communities can reduce habitat heterogeneity and, in some cases, reduce overall ecosystem resilience.

Detection typically relies on analyses of species turnover and environmental gradients, using transects, remote sensing, and spatial statistics to assess the abruptness of community change. In practice, ecotoneswithout is most relevant in discussions of landscape homogenization, large-scale gradients, and restoration planning, where maintaining or reconstructing transition zones may be important for sustaining heterogeneity and resilience.