BASIC LAWS IN THE ECOSYSTEM

(Report by: Ellen Mae R. Orias)

B. Law of Tolerance (Shelford's Law of Tolerance)
It was develop by American zoologist Victor Ernest Shelford in 1911.
It is a law stating that a certain organism’s
survival and existence depend upon the
multifaceted set of conditions wherein each
individual has definite minimum, maximum
and optimum ecological factors (or
environmental factors) to establish success.
This law is possibly the more precise indication
of natural complexity and can be graphically
indicated by this:

Shelford’s law of tolerance has “the concept of

limiting effect of maximum and minimum”. The abundance or distribution of an organism can be
controlled by certain factors where levels of these factors exceed the maximum or minimum limits
of tolerance of that organism.
Environmental factors (or abiotic components) involved climatic change, topographic location,
temperature, salinity and biological necessities of both plants and animals.
The organism will survive if the temperature, humidity, air, and other environmental factors are
within the optimum range. And there are upper or lower limits to the physical factors an organism
can tolerate.
Some subsidiary to the law of tolerance may be
stated as follows:
First, plants and animals may have a wide
range of tolerance for one environmental factor
but relatively narrow range of tolerance for
another factor.
Second, organisms with wide ranges of
tolerance for all factors are likely to be most
widely distributed.
For further understanding of the law of tolerance here’s an example:
The Antarctic fish “Trematomus Bernacchii” and desert fish “Pupfish Cyprinodon Macularius”
provide an extreme contrast in limits of tolerances related to the very different environments in
which they live.
The Antarctic fish has a limit of temperature tolerance of less than 40C in the range of -20 to +20
and is thus extremely stenothermally cold adapted.
In contrast the desert fish is eurythermal and is also euryhaline, tolerating temperatures between
100 and 400C, and salinities ranging from fresh water to that greater than sea water.
Highlights:
Each organism has its own higher and lower limit of tolerance. This capacity decides their
distribution in environment.
As we have emphasized, organisms are not just slaves to the physical environment, they adapt
themselves and modify the physical environment so as to reduce the limiting effects of
temperature, light, water and other physical conditions of existence.

References:
Fairuz, Rafida Inas. 1 July 2018. SHELFORD’S LAW OF TOLERANCE. Retrieved January 28,
2019 from youtube.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWiwUGcXvwc&t=84s
A Dictionary of Zoology. (n.d.). Shelford’s Law of Tolerance. Retrieved January 28, 2019 from
Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/plants-and-animals/zoology-and-
veterinary-medicine/zoology-general/shelfords-law-tolerance
Biology Online Dictionary. 25 August 2014. Shelford’s Law of Tolerance. Retrieved January 28,
2019 from Biology Online.org: https://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Shelfords_Law
_of_Tolerance
Oxfordreference.com. (n.d.). Shelford’s Law of Tolerance. Retrieved January 28, 2019 from
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100500821