Editing Abiotic stress (section)

===Benefits===
While abiotic stress may have negative impacts on individual organisms, there are cases where abiotic stress plays an important role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Important ecosystem mechanisms and improved overall stress tolerance may rely on occasional low levels of abiotic stress. 

One example of  a situation where abiotic stress plays a constructive role in an ecosystem is in natural wildfires. Smaller fires are useful in reducing the overall fuel load of an area of forest or prairie. By clearing out dead brush and other organic matter, the risk of catastrophic and widespread fire decreases, and the residual ash of smaller fires helps add nutrients back into the soil. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-03 |title=Are Wildfires Good for the Environment? |url=https://wfca.com/wildfire-articles/are-wildfires-good-for-the-environment/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=WFCA |language=en-US}}</ref> The observed benefits of these smaller and more controlled fires on land usability and species populations have led to the use of prescribed burning by humans for centuries.<ref>Johnson, A. Sydney; Hale, Philip E. 2002. The historical foundations of prescribed burning for wildlife: a southeastern perspective. In: Ford, W. Mark; Russell, Kevin R.; Moorman, Christopher E., eds. Proceedings: the role of fire for nongame wildlife management and community restoration: traditional uses and new directions. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-288. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 11-23.</ref> Varying perspectives on the benefits and risks of fire to ecosystems have influenced official policy through history. The U.S. Forest Service, initially focused on fire control, changed its policy to one of fire management in 1974, recognizing these fires as a natural part of an ecosystem.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Van Wagtendonk |first=Jan W |last2= |first2= |date=2007 |title=The History and Evolution of Wildland Fire Use |url=https://fireecology.springeropen.com/articles/10.4996/fireecology.0302003 |journal=Fire Ecology |language=en |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=3–17 |doi=10.4996/fireecology.0302003 |issn=1933-9747 |via=SpringerOpen|doi-access=free }}</ref> There is also evidence that a diverse fire history between patches of land within an area has been shown to benefit transitional landscapes between savanna and forest.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bilbao |first=Bibiana A. |last2=Leal |first2=Alejandra V. |last3=Méndez |first3=Carlos L. |date=2010 |title=Indigenous Use of Fire and Forest Loss in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. Assessment of and Tools for Alternative Strategies of Fire Management in Pemón Indigenous Lands |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40928155 |journal=Human Ecology |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=663–673 |issn=0300-7839}}</ref> Even though it is healthy for an ecosystem, a wildfire can still be considered an abiotic stressor, because it puts stress on individual organisms within the area.   On the larger scale, though, natural wildfires are positive manifestations of abiotic stress.<ref name="bruss">{{cite journal | last1 = Brussaard | first1 = Lijbert | last2 = de Ruiter | first2 = Peter C. | last3 = Brown | first3 = George G. | year = 2007 | title = Soil biodiversity for agricultural sustainability | journal = Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment | volume = 121 | issue = 3| pages = 233–244 | doi=10.1016/j.agee.2006.12.013| bibcode = 2007AgEE..121..233B }}</ref>

What also needs to be taken into account when looking for benefits of abiotic stress, is that one phenomenon may not affect an entire ecosystem in the same way.  While a flood will kill most plants living low on the ground in a certain area, if there is rice there, it will thrive in the wet conditions. Another example of this is in [[phytoplankton]] and [[zooplankton]].  The same types of conditions are usually considered stressful for these two types of organisms.  They act very similarly when exposed to ultraviolet light and most toxins, but at elevated temperatures the phytoplankton reacts negatively, while the [[thermophilic]] zooplankton reacts positively to the increase in temperature. The two may be living in the same environment, but an increase in temperature of the area would prove stressful only for one of the organisms.<ref name = "vine"/>

Lastly, abiotic stress has enabled species to grow, develop, and evolve, through the process of natural selection. Heritable traits that improve an organism's resiliency under stressed conditions increase the likelihood that the organism will survive and reproduce, enabling it to pass these traits to the next generation.  Both plants and animals have evolved mechanisms allowing them to survive extremes.<ref name="roel">{{cite journal | last1 = Roelofs | first1 = D. |display-authors=et al | year = 2008 | title = Functional ecological genomics to demonstrate general and specific responses to abiotic stress | doi = 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2007.01312.x | journal = Functional Ecology | volume = 22 | issue = 1 | pages = 8–18 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2008FuEco..22....8R }}</ref>