Sietämiskäyriä

Sietämiskäyriä, often translated as tolerance curves or resilience curves, refers to a concept used to describe the range of conditions within which an organism or a population can survive and thrive. It illustrates the relationship between a specific environmental factor, such as temperature, pH, or salinity, and the biological performance or fitness of an organism.

Typically, a sietämiskäyriä is depicted as a graphical representation. The x-axis represents the varying levels of the environmental factor, while the y-axis represents a measure of performance, such as survival rate, growth rate, or reproductive success. The curve usually shows an optimal range where the organism performs best, with performance declining as conditions move away from this optimum towards the upper or lower limits of tolerance.

These limits define the organism's physiological boundaries. The lower tolerance limit is the minimum level of the factor the organism can withstand, and the upper tolerance limit is the maximum. Outside these limits, survival is impossible. Sietämiskäyriä are fundamental in ecology and biology, helping scientists understand species distribution, predict how organisms will respond to environmental changes like climate change or pollution, and assess the health of ecosystems. Different species will have different sietämiskäyriä for the same environmental factor, reflecting their unique adaptations.