TOLERANCE

=Tolerance= An organism’s capacity to survive variation in environmental conditions. An organisms tolerance to a given factor will influence its distribution. [image:http://i.imgur.com/gwymytZ.jpg?1] This graph shows the average distribution of flies according to temperature. We would expect to find most flies between 15-24°C. It is easy to think that organisms need certain factors and are damaged by others. For instance we often assume plants need light, when in reality they have a higher tolerance to light. Too much light can be even more damaging than too little. Over exposure to light will cause physiological stress or even death as the plant begins to lose too much water. Different species of plants will have a different tolerance to light exposure and this will determine where they are found. '''Acclimation:''' Sometimes it is possible for the tolerance of an organism to change slightly if conditions are changed slowly.