APES Notes 2.4 - Ecological Tolerance

Summary

In this educational video, Mr. Smeeds explores the concept of ecological range of tolerance, which is the spectrum of environmental conditions an organism can withstand before facing injury or death. He uses salmon as an example, highlighting how individual and species-level tolerances can vary. The video also delves into the optimal, physiological stress, and intolerance zones within this range. Mr. Smeeds emphasizes the significance of genetic diversity in enhancing a species' resilience to environmental changes like global warming. He concludes with writing tips for FRQs, advising students to connect human activities to climate change and to specify physiological stressors affecting organisms.

Takeaways

• 🌡️ Ecological range of tolerance refers to the range of environmental conditions, such as temperature, salinity, pH, or sunlight, that an organism can endure before facing injury or death.
• 🐟 Both species and individual organisms have varying ranges of tolerance for environmental conditions, with individual salmon, for example, having slightly different temperature tolerances due to adaptations.
• 📊 The temperature tolerance range for salmon is generally 6 to 22 degrees Celsius, but individual differences can allow some to live outside this range.
• 🌡️ Genetic diversity within a species, like different subspecies of salmon, contributes to varying temperature tolerance ranges, enhancing the population's resistance to environmental changes like global warming.
• 📈 The optimal zone within the tolerance range is where organisms thrive, reproduce, and have the highest population density.
• 😓 The range of physiological stress is where organisms can survive but may experience infertility, lack of growth, or decreased activity due to suboptimal conditions.
• 🚫 The zone of intolerance is where conditions are so extreme that organisms cannot survive, leading to death.
• ✍️ When writing about ecological tolerance in FRQ (Free Response Questions), it's important to connect human activities or natural events to shifts in tolerance ranges and their impacts on organisms.
• 🔗 Connecting global warming to specific physiological stresses, such as thermal shock or oxygen depletion, strengthens the argument in ecological discussions.
• 📝 Writing tips for FRQs emphasize being specific about physiological stressors rather than generalizing that organisms die due to unfavorable conditions.
• 🔍 The practice skill for FRQ 2.4 involves identifying the author's claim, which should be a testable hypothesis related to the ecological range of tolerance.

Q & A

What is ecological range of tolerance?

Ecological range of tolerance refers to the range of conditions such as temperature, salinity, pH, or sunlight that an organism can endure before experiencing injury or death.

Why is it important to understand both species and individual organism tolerance ranges?

Understanding both species and individual organism tolerance ranges is important because it shows that there can be variations within a species, allowing for adaptation and survival under different environmental conditions.

What is the basic temperature tolerance range for salmon?

The basic temperature tolerance range for salmon is about 6 to 22 degrees Celsius.

How does genetic diversity within a species contribute to the ecological range of tolerance?

Genetic diversity within a species contributes to the ecological range of tolerance by allowing individual members to have slightly different tolerances, making the population as a whole more resistant to environmental changes such as global warming.

What are the three different zones that can occur within the range of tolerance for a species?

The three different zones within the range of tolerance for a species are the optimal zone, the range of physiological stress, and the zone of intolerance.

What happens in the optimal zone of ecological range of tolerance?

In the optimal zone, organisms are able to survive, grow, and reproduce effectively, leading to the highest population size and thriving conditions.

What is the significance of the range of physiological stress within the ecological range of tolerance?

The range of physiological stress is significant because it represents the zone where organisms can survive but experience stress that may lead to infertility, lack of growth, or decreased activity.

What is the zone of intolerance in ecological range of tolerance?

The zone of intolerance is the range where an organism will actually die due to conditions being outside their tolerance range, such as extreme temperatures, pH levels, or other environmental factors.

Why is it important to cite specific physiological stressors when discussing ecological range of tolerance?

Citing specific physiological stressors is important because it provides a clearer understanding of the exact cause of death or decline in a population, which can be crucial for conservation efforts and predicting species' responses to environmental changes.

How can human activities be connected to ecological range of tolerance in an FRQ answer?

Human activities such as electricity generation, transportation, and agriculture can be connected to ecological range of tolerance by discussing how they contribute to climate change and global warming, which can shift environmental conditions outside the tolerance range of species, leading to population declines or die-offs.

What is the practice skill for FRQ 2.4 mentioned in the script?

The practice skill for FRQ 2.4 is identifying the claim of the author by reading a passage and writing a testable hypothesis based on the author's claim.