Ecotone and climate change

  • 01/07/2008

  • Journal of Tropical Forestry

Many evidences have been gathered to depict that climate change is taking place. A changing climate has strong implications for biodiversity changes and impact on the phenology and distribution of species alongwith community composition and ecosystem dynamics. These parameters may be used to find out indicator species to detect the climate change. Climate related changes in performance may be detected earlier at the boundary of geographic range than at its centre. Shifts in the boundaries between vegetation types, called as ecotone, may be proper site for sensitive indicator. In India, the meeting zone of two major timber species sal and teak, which are totally different in climatic and ecological requirements, in many areas of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh state formed ecotone zone. Although ecological changes will occur everywhere, signals for this will be detected first in ecotone. It is therefore, important to conserve the ecotone areas for native species and for monitoring the climatic changes.