Definition
Harsh environments are external conditions that present a heightened or unusual challenge to the fitness of individual organisms, the stability of populations and longevity of species, or even the robustness of ecological communities.
Introduction
Harsh environments are external conditions that are detrimental to survival for most forms of life. These conditions limit the growth, abundance, or distribution of organisms and populations in an ecosystem. The challenges posed by such environments are typically conceived of as being abiotic in nature. Although by no means an exhaustive list, severe limitations of essential nutrients or vitamins, resources such as water or energy (in the form of heat or light), space or shelter, and extremes of temperature, pH, salinity, or altitude are all limiting factors that contribute to the harshness of an environment. Humans and many other organisms have...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Archibald, J. (2014). One plus one equals one: Symbiosis and the evolution of complex life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bordenstein, S. (2019). https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/tardigraade/index.html. Accessed 23 Jan 2019.
Cartwright, R. A., et al. (2017). The importance of selection in the evolution of blindness in cavefish. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 17(45). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-017-0876-4.
Cornwallis, C. K., et al. (2017). Cooperation facilitates the colonization of harsh environments. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 1(3). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-016-0057.
Gluckman, P. D., et al. (2005). Environmental influences during development and their later consequences for health and disease: Implications for the interpretation of empirical studies. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B, 272, 671–677.
Laland, K. N., Odling-Smee, J. F., & Turner, S. (2014). The role of internal and external constructive processes in evolution. Journal of Physiology, 592(11), 2413–2422.
Lande, R., Engen, S., & Saether, B. E. (2003). Stochastic population dynamics in ecology and conservation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Matthewson, J., & Griffiths, P. E. (2017). Biological criteria of disease: Four ways of going wrong. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, 42(4), 447–466.
Rothschild, L. J., & Mancinelli, R. L. (2001). Life in extreme environments. Nature, 409(6823), 1092–1101.
Stearns, S. (1992). The evolution of life histories. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the grant that currently funds my research: ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship project A Philosophy of Medicine for the 21st Century (Ref: FL170100160).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Takacs, P. (2019). Harsh Environments. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_425-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_425-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences