User:Spbio2245/Abiotic stress
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Benefits
[edit]While abiotic stress can have a negative impact on individual organisms, there are cases where stress is an important part of maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Important ecosystem mechanisms and improved stress tolerance may rely on occasional stress.
One example of a situation where abiotic stress plays a constructive role in an ecosystem is in natural wildfires. Smaller fires are useful in reducing the overall fuel load of an area of forest or prairie. By clearing out dead brush and other organic matter, the risk of catastrophic and widespread fire decreases and the residual ash of smaller fires helps add nutrients back into the soil [1] The observed benefits of these smaller and more controlled fires on land usability and species populations have lead to the use of prescribed burning by humans for centuries[2]. Varying perspectives on the benefits and risks of fire to ecosystems have influenced official policy through history. The U.S. Forest Service, initially focused on fire control, changed its policy to one of fire management in 1974, recognizing these fires as a natural part of an ecosystem[3]. A diverse fire history between patches of land within an area has been shown to benefit transitional landscapes between savanna and forest[4]. While they can be a human safety hazard, it is productive for these ecosystems to burn out every once in a while so that new organisms can begin to grow and thrive. Even though it is healthy for an ecosystem, a wildfire can still be considered an abiotic stressor, because it puts an obvious stress on individual organisms within the area. Every tree that is scorched and each bird nest that is devoured is a sign of the abiotic stress. On the larger scale, though, natural wildfires are positive manifestations of abiotic stress.
In Plants:
Another way that plants can increase their resilience, especially in nutrient poor soils, is to establish mutualisms with microbes in the rhizosphere. Mycorrhizal are a common form of mutualism and involve fungi (what kind) which colonize the roots of plants. The two organisms exchange nutrients, the plant supplying Carbohydrates and the mycorrhizal fungi providing nutrients like N and P (cite).
Effects of climate change on abiotic stress and evolution
[edit]Data suggests that anthropogenic activity has increased the global temperature, and likely increased the odds of extreme climate events such as drought, fire conditions and flooding[5]. Threats to organisms and ecosystem biodiversity due to increased abiotic stress are one major impact of this change. The effects of climate change on biomes vary due to the location, patterns of precipitation, and the organisms which inhabit them. On the species level, the increased abiotic stress due to climate change can lead to adaptations which increase a species' reproductive success under these conditions. However, such highly specialized adaptations may leave species vulnerable to other stresses.
References
[edit]- ^ "Are Wildfires Good for the Environment?". WFCA. 2022-08-03. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
- ^ Johnson, A. Sydney; Hale, Philip E. 2002. The historical foundations of prescribed burning for wildlife: a southeastern perspective. In: Ford, W. Mark; Russell, Kevin R.; Moorman, Christopher E., eds. Proceedings: the role of fire for nongame wildlife management and community restoration: traditional uses and new directions. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-288. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 11-23.
- ^ Van Wagtendonk, Jan W (2007). "The History and Evolution of Wildland Fire Use". Fire Ecology. 3 (2): 3–17. doi:10.4996/fireecology.0302003. ISSN 1933-9747 – via SpringerOpen.
- ^ Bilbao, Bibiana A.; Leal, Alejandra V.; Méndez, Carlos L. (2010). "Indigenous Use of Fire and Forest Loss in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. Assessment of and Tools for Alternative Strategies of Fire Management in Pemón Indigenous Lands". Human Ecology. 38 (5): 663–673. ISSN 0300-7839.
- ^ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2023-06-22). Climate Change 2022 – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Working Group II Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781009325844. ISBN 978-1-009-32584-4.