Page "Permaculture" Paragraph 31

The edge effect in ecology is the effect of the juxtaposition or placing side by side of contrasting environments on an ecosystem.

Permaculturists argue that, where vastly differing systems meet, there is an intense area of productivity and useful connections.

An example of this is the coast ; where the land and the sea meet there is a particularly rich area that meets a disproportionate percentage of human and animal needs.

So this idea is played out in permacultural designs by using spirals in the herb garden or creating ponds that have wavy undulating shorelines rather than a simple circle or oval ( thereby increasing the amount of edge for a given area ).

Edges between woodland and open areas have been claimed to be the most productive.