coenocline A gradient of communities (e.g. in a transect from the summit to the base of a hill), reflecting the changing importance, frequency, or other appropriate measure of different species populations. The term is applied most widely to vegetation records. See also ECOCLINE; compare COMPLEX GRADIENT.

coenocline A gradient of communities (e.g. in a transect from the summit to the base of a hill), reflecting the changing importance, frequency, or other appropriate measure of different species populations. The term is applied most widely to vegetation records. See also ecocline. Compare complex gradient.