Here, wave energy, wind energy, weather systems move across the boundary as they move onshore. We know these boundaries as beaches or rocky inter-tidal zones. Consider the ecological boundary between an oceanic environment and a continent. Ecologists call this “in-between” system an “ecotone” or an “edge” – a fuzzy and dynamic boundary between two habitats.Įcotones connect adjacent ecosystems through flows of energy, material and the organisms that cross ecosystem boundaries. And, that “in-between” system works because it deals with the environment of both the water and the land. Instead, there is another system that stands between the water and the land – a juncture of connectivity between adjacent ecosystems. There is no such thing as a dividing line. When you stand on the shore of an ocean or a lake, things are much more complex than a simple boundary between water and land.
Continents are systems that contain countless ecosystems and non-living structures. Our oceans are aquatic systems that are driven by our sun, gravity, and wind systems. Everything is a system that contains many other systems.
There are always relationships to consider. In Nature, nothing ever exists by itself. Everything in Nature is a system that contains many other systems.