Environmental Stress

Environmental stress is a condition that arises when an organism’s environment changes suddenly or drastically, affecting the organism’s ability to survive and thrive. Environmental stress can range from extreme weather conditions, changes in available resources such as food and water, toxic chemicals, and pollution. This can cause physical, physiological, and behavioral changes in organisms, resulting in decreased health, poor reproductive performance, and decreased fitness. As a result, understanding environmental stress is important for understanding how organisms interact with their environment, how their population sizes change, and how to assess and manage the effects of anthropogenic activities such as habitat destruction and climate change on organisms and our environment.