Can anyone explain what Edge Effect is?

Question

I'm creating a small lake, no more than about 100 metres long and someone said I need to consider the Edge Effect, anyone have any ideas what this is?

Answer 1

The edge effect the way I learned it represents the tendency for a transitional zone between communities (an ecotone) to contain a greater variety of species and more dense populations of species than either community surrounding it.

I found another definition when I googled it:  A condition in which otherwise suitable habitat becomes less suitable for a species because it is adjacent to non-habitat land. This degradation of habitat may occur due to predation from species that live outside of the patch, or increased competition with species that live outside the habitat patch.

This might be what the individual was referring to.

Answer 2

An edge effect is the effect of the juxtaposition of contrasting environments on an ecosystem. This term is commonly used in conjunction with the boundary between natural habitats, especially forests, and disturbed or developed land. Edge effects are especially pronounced in small habitat fragments where they may extend throughout the patch.

When an edge is created to any natural ecosystem, and the area outside the boundary is a disturbed or unnatural system, the natural ecosystem is seriously affected for some distance in from the edge. In the case of a forest where the adjacent land has been cut, creating an openland/forest boundary, sunlight and wind penetrate to a much greater extent, drying out the interior of the forest close to the edge and encouraging growth of opportunistic species at the edge. Air temperature, vapour pressure deficit, soil moisture, light intensity and levels of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) all change at edges.

In a 1994 paper Skole and Tucker estimated that the amount of Amazonian area modified by edge effects exceeded the area that had been cleared. Forest fires are more common close to edges as a consequence of increased desiccation at edges and increased understory growth present due to increased light availability. Increased understory biomass provides fuel that allows pasture fires to spread into the forests. Increased fire frequency since the 1990s are among the edge effects which are slowly transforming Amazonian forests. The amount of forest edge is also orders of magnitude greater now in the United States than when the Europeans first began settling North America. Some species have benefitted from this fact, for example the Brown-headed Cowbird, which is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of songbirds nesting in forest near the forest boundary. Thus, the more edge in relation to the forest interior, the more cowbirds and the fewer songbirds as a result. Another example of a species benefiting from the proliferation of forest edge is the poison ivy. Grasses, huckleberries, flowering currents and shade intolerant trees such as the Douglas Fir all do well on the edge.

In the case of developed lands juxtaposed to wild lands, problems with invasive exotics often result. Species such as Kudzu, Japanese Honeysuckle, and Multiflora Rose have done damage to natural ecosystems, though these species are localized to just some areas and do not invade throughout the world. Beneficially, the open spots and edges provide places for species that thrive where there is more light and vegitation that is close to the ground. Deer and Elk are particularly benefited as their principal diet is that of grass and shrubs which are only found on the edges of forested areas.

Edge effects also apply to succession, that is where vegetation is spreading outwards rather than being encroached upon. Here different species will be more suited to the edges or central sections of the vegetation, resulting in a varied distribution. Edges themselves also vary with orientation - for example edges on the north or south will receive less or more sun than the opposite side (depending on hemisphere), resulting in differing vegetation patterns.

Answer 3

EDGE EFFECT

edges are the most abundant places for life.

Water and land edges are the richest as opposed to forest and prairie edges,and the sea edge is the richest of all because of the tides

Low tide =places become dry with puddles ,where fish have laid eggs ,crabs and all sort of edge creatures move around ,and there are many birds .and bird droppings ,the world on the edge has moved down .

High tide ,this place is now covered with water and fish are swimming into this space which is now rich with the garbage the low tide visitors left behind .

There is much life both plants and all the other fish ,birds crabs ,bugs etc that moves with the movement of the tide over the changing bottom

which is wet for a time and then dry with the sun or moon added .both having an big affect on the life that lays below .

The microscopic world here is more intense than any where else .

And the effects are not just on the water or ground ,they carry on into the air ,from the land side a current goes straight up into the air ,and on the water side it falls down ,this aerial elevator moves with the tides and you can see birds rising using this current ,or falling quickly to catch a morsel or just riding it flapping their wings to stay in the same place.

Most of the fish and aquatic life on the coast are on this moving edge,so are the birds ,look in a lagoon how many species of birds there are ,waders ,seabirds, land birds everybody likes to go to the sea side.i once counted over thirty species and it was superficial there where many more in the bushes

Most people live on water and land edges of rivers and seas ,also for reasons of transport, ,water (for agriculture)and climate

This phenomena of the abundance of life in action ,on edges is called the EDGE EFFECT

A excellent book to read about this is called sensitive Chaos by Theodor Schwenck,on the Rudolph Steiner press.

The Aztecs employed this effect to the full with their Chinampas ,islands and peninsulas build on the lake ,from tree trunks and the rich mud from the lake enriched with the human waste from the public toilets on the bridges going into the city.

A variety of food was grown in the water as well as on the land occupying the water in different degrees both sides

Plants that required a lot of water near the edge others further away.

On the land side were tomatoes and beans on trellises that bridges  the bits of land ,so that plant wastes dropped in the water to supplement the fish food  ,and harvesting was easy from shallow bottom boats,

they grew an edible algae ,ate frogs, ,fish ,shrimps ,eels ,snails ,and a variety of edible water plants

,A very intense production ,that supplied the packed city (now Mexico city)

Some Chinampas are still operating today after 900 years demonstrating the sustainability.

These Chinampas in design resemble a saw toothed edge, making the edge longer .

like a folded piece of string over a certain distance ,is much more that a straight line .

The best and richest place in the water where small fry live is in the first foot(depth) along the edge ,the water is warmer ,more gas ,from decomposing plant material,and a safer pace where the big fish cannot go ,

By making this part wide ,we increase the nursery or  developing ground ,And by making it jagged ,or undulating we increase this micro environment tenfold.

So when building a pond utilize this effect by an ubndulating edge shallow on the water side with anchored water plants such as water chestnut and lillies ,reeds ,papyrus,etc,

And full of edge plants on land so that the waste material also serves as some kind of food for something,

Some trees with pods as well to provide some shady patches as well as fish food

and floating water plants to hide the fish from the birds ,

You should add some floating islands for ducks (their excrement is also fish food )and you can even have a chicken house backing on to the pond with the roosting poles over the water so that their p**p is also dinner ,and a pigsty with a sloping floor so that theirs serves for dito

And you will have utilized the edge effect to the maximum.

Answer 4

Hi there!! This is long, but i hope it helps!! =]

Habitat conditions (such as degree of humidity and exposure to light or wind) created at or near the more-or-less well-defined boundary between ecosystems, as, for example, between open areas and adjacent forest.

the increased richness of plants and animals that occurs in areas where two or more habitat types come together.

The tendency for a transitional zone between communities (an ecotone) to contain a greater variety of species and more dense populations of species than either community surrounding it.

"The drastically modified environmental conditions along the margins, or ""edges,"" of forest patches surrounded partially or entirely by harvested lands."

Description: Processses that characterize habitat fragmentation and the concomitant creation of edges.

a condition in which otherwise suitable habitat becomes less suitable for a species because it is adjacent to non-habitat land. This degradation of habitat may occur due to predation from species that live outside of the patch, or increased competition with species that live outside the habitat patch.

the resulting influence two starkly different plant communities (eg forest-meadow) have on the animals that inhabit the area.

Loosening of the adhesional bond between the spray deposit and the substrate at the workpiece edges.

Where two habitat types join together resulting in increased diversity for vegetation and wildlife.

The effect on the surrounding forests from the edges of a clear cut. Common edge effects include trees blown down, spreading root rots and other diseases, and invasive weeds. Edge effects often travel very far into the surrounding interior forests.

The phenomenon of an edge community, or ecotone, having greater ecological diversity than the neighboring communities.

the tendency of wildlife to use the areas where two vegetative types come together, forming an edge; rabbits, for example, concentrate in an area where brushland and meadowland meet because of the diversity of available habitat components.

Refers to the diversity and abundance of the wildlife species that are attracted to areas where two or more vegetative types or age classes meet (see Ecotone).

An edge effect is the effect of the of juxtaposition of contrasting environment on an ecosystem. This term is commonly used in conjunction with the boundary between natural habitats, especially forests, and disturbed or developed land. Edge effects are especially pronounced in small habitat fragments where they may be felt throughout the patch.