AP®︎ Environmental Science: Topic 2.4 Flashcards

The factor-specific range of environmental conditions an individual organism or species can endure before injury or death results

The lower or upper boundary of a tolerance range; beyond it, an organism cannot persist

The range of conditions in which survival, growth, and reproduction are most successful and abundance is generally highest

Reduced biological performance when conditions leave the optimal range but remain survivable

Conditions beyond a lower or upper tolerance limit where injury or death prevents organisms from persisting

A graph of biological performance or abundance across levels of an environmental factor, usually peaking in the optimal range and declining toward the limits

Broad tolerance permits persistence across a wide span of a factor; narrow tolerance permits persistence only across a restricted span

A reversible physiological or behavioral adjustment to changed conditions during an individual organism’s lifetime