Consider the following statements Statement I: Organisms that can tolerate and survive in a wide range of temperatures are called…

Question

Consider the following statements:

Statement I: Organisms that can tolerate and survive in a wide range of temperatures are called stenothermal.

Statement II: Generally, humans are considered stenothermal. The correct answer is:

1. A. Only Statement I is correct
2. B. Only Statement II is correct
3. C. Both statement I and Statement II are correct
4. D. Neither statement I nor Statement II are correct (Correct answer)

Correct Answer

Option D — Neither statement I nor Statement II are correct

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Neither statement I nor Statement II are correct.

Key Points

• Statement I is incorrect because it reverses the definition. Organisms that tolerate a wide range of temperatures are eurythermal. Stenothermal organisms tolerate only a narrow range.
• Statement II is incorrect. Humans are eurythermal, not stenothermal. Human beings survive across an extraordinary range of ambient temperatures, from the Arctic to the equatorial tropics.
• Since both statements fail, the answer is D.

Additional Information

• The prefixes are the whole trick, and they generalise:

• Euryhaline organisms tolerate a wide range of salinity — salmon, eels, and the fish of estuaries and mangroves. Stenohaline organisms cannot; most open-ocean and most freshwater fish die if moved between the two.
• Why tolerance range matters: it largely determines a species' geographical distribution. Stenothermal species — reef-building corals, most Antarctic fish — are confined to narrow bands and are therefore acutely vulnerable to warming.
• Regulators, conformers and the strategies between them: regulators maintain a constant internal environment through homeostasis, at high metabolic cost — birds and mammals. Conformers let their internal state change with the external one — most invertebrates and fish. Others migrate to escape stressful conditions, or suspend activity through hibernation, aestivation or diapause.
• The related terminology of homeostasis: homeotherms maintain a constant body temperature; poikilotherms vary with the surroundings; endotherms generate body heat internally; ectotherms depend on external heat sources.