Temperature resistance

This article applies to living things; for the properties of materials and products see heat resistance and cold resistance

As temperature resistance (including heat-resistance), the resistance of living beings for them extremely high or low temperatures , respectively.

In botany , the temperature limit is around 45 ° Celsius, which highly developed plants can survive without permanent damage. After appropriate hardening, individual species can also tolerate up to 60 ° Celsius. Lower organisms, such as thermophilic prokaryotes, can withstand much higher temperatures, up to 100 ° Celsius. Within an organism, the most physiologically active tissue parts are most at risk. As a result of the heat denaturation of thermolabile enzymes, membrane damage and metabolic disorders primarily occur. For taller plants, transpiration cooling ( evaporative cooling ) plays the most important role in avoiding heat damage in the open air.

In zoology , living beings get sick or die at temperatures that are too high or too low for them, because the body temperature changes too much or the circulation is overloaded.

While terrestrial animals are able to avoid extreme temperatures by changing location, looking for sunlight or shade, up to immersion in water or mud or digging into the ground, a certain temperature resistance is also ensured by:

• Furs , feathers and clothing
• Night activity
• seasonally also through dormancy , winter rigor or hibernation
• or through sweating . Its physical effectiveness depends on the air temperature and humidity as well as the wind ( wind chill ) and also shows individual differences as well as differences based on the type and environment .
• Dog panting, elephant wiggling ears

Despite these possibilities, animals usually withstand less heat than plants. Fish and amphibians in particular have the lowest temperature resistance and die between 25 ° and 30 ° Celsius.

The condition of a person with dangerous overheating is known as heat stroke . The sharp drop in body temperature is called hypothermia and there is a risk of freezing.

See also

• Hibernation , dormancy and stratification
• Heat damage
• heat protection

Web links

• Temperature resistance of tropical plants in Puerto Rico
• List of temperature limits of organisms p. 38–46

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Heat resistance in the Lexicon of Biology, accessed on May 11, 2016.
2. ↑ List of temperature limits of organisms p. 45.