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Climate change drives increased directional movement of landscape ecotones

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Abstract

Context

Ecotones are boundary zones formed where overlap between neighboring ecosystems creates an intermediate ecosystem with unique ecological characteristics. Dynamic ecotones change position along a boundary over time and can be further categorized as either shifting, where the adjacent ecosystems alternatively drive movement of the ecotone but maintain the same relative location over time, or directional, where one system encroaches into the other and the ecotone moves laterally.

Objectives

The purpose of this work was to examine how climate change alters movement dynamics of both directional and shifting ecotones.

Methods

In three ecosystem case studies, we examine the effects of climate change on landscape-scale ecotone movement across the marine, terrestrial, and interfacing environments.

Results

Shifts in local and global climate drive changes in ecotone patterns, increasing directional ecotone movement at both shifting and directional ecotones. Specifically, unidirectional changes in climate patterns disrupt dynamic equilibria at shifting ecosystem boundaries, thereby facilitating unidirectional movement at the previously shifting boundaries. Climate changes additionally accelerate pre-existing directional migration of ecotones through changes to abiotic gradients.

Conclusion

Directional climate change increases directional movement in multiple types of ecotone. Future work should consider the rate and feedback mechanisms of ecotone movement and function at additional ecotones.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. David Johnson for encouraging this review and for his comments on several iterations of this manuscript. We would also like to thank the three anonymous reviewers, whose comments helped improve the clarity, precision, and relevance of this manuscript. This work was supported by funding from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the National Science Foundation (Grant # 1832221). This paper is contribution #4037 from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Funding

This work was supported by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the National Science Foundation (Grant # 1832221).

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  1. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary, 1375 Greate Rd., Gloucester Point, VA, 23062, USA

    Alexander J. Smith & Emily M. Goetz

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Smith, A.J., Goetz, E.M. Climate change drives increased directional movement of landscape ecotones. Landscape Ecol 36, 3105–3116 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01314-7

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