2.

4 Ecological Tolerance
2.5 Natural Disruptions to
Ecosystems
2.6 Adaptations
2.4 Ecological Tolerance
The range of conditions that an organism or a species can endure
Environmental Factors
• A relationship exists between a number of environmental factors
and how well organisms or species survive.

• Typical environmental factors are:

• Temperature
• Precipitation
• pH
• Salinity of water
• Intensity or availability of sunlight
• Quality of the air or water
• Flow rate of running water.
Optimum Environmental Conditions
• Organisms and species have a set of preferred environmental
conditions.
• Woodlice prefer to be in a dark and wet environment.
• That’s why woodlice try to get underneath damp logs and stones.
• These are the optimum conditions for the survival of an organism or
species.

Even viruses. In this case H-F-M-D

(Hand, foot and mouth disease) has a
temperature tolerance.
Range of Tolerance
• Organisms and species have ranges of tolerance for environmental
factors.
• An environmental factor has a high and low extreme of tolerance
for an organism or species.
2.5 Natural Disruptions to Ecosystems
 Natural Disruptions to Ecosystems may be
even more significant than anthropogenic
disruptions.
Earth System Processes Operate
on a Range of Time Scales

•Periodic - occurring at repeated

intervals
•Example: Tides
•Episodic - occurring occasionally
and at irregular intervals
•Example: El Niño/La Niña (every
2-7 years)
•Random
•Meteorite impacts
Earth’s climate has changed over geological time
for many reasons.
•Causes in historic ice ages: changes in ocean and
atmosphere circulation patterns, varying
concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and
even volcanic eruptions
 The K-T Extinction event
•Asteroid changed Earth’s
climate
Sixty-five million years ago,
more than three-fourths of all
plant and animal species living
on Earth became extinct. This
event is known as
the K/T mass extinction.
2.6 ORGANISMS ADAPT TO THEIR ENVIRONMENT
Natural selection enables some organisms with
advantageous phenotypes to survive and reproduce
and so pass on their genes and alleles. These adaptive
changes in the genotype result from gene and
chromosome mutations. Genetic change in a
population is usually not fast.
What happens if there is an environmental change,
either natural or anthropogenic? What happens
when survival is threatened?
Organisms or populations of species must: Alter their behaviour or Migrate away
Or PERISH!