Energy-Limited Tolerance to Stress as a Conceptual Framework to Integrate the Effects of Multiple Stressors

Integrating the effects of multiple stressors and predicting their consequences for the species' survival and distribution is an important problem in ecological physiology. This review applies the concept of energy-limited tolerance to stress to develop bioenergetic markers that can assist in integrating the effects of multiple stressors and distinguishing between the moderate stress compatible with long-term survival of populations and bioenergetically unsustainable extreme stress. These markers reflect the progressive decline of the aerobic scope of an organism (defined as the fraction of the energy flux and metabolic power supporting this flux available after the basal maintenance costs of an organism are…

• NS
  National Science Foundation