What term is used to describe factors that make it more difficult for an organism to survive in a given environment?

The term "selective pressure" refers to external factors that influence an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in a specific environment. These pressures can include competition for resources, predation, disease, and environmental changes. When selective pressures are present, they can lead to natural selection, where organisms with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce compared to those without such traits.

In this context, selective pressures shape the evolution of species by favoring those individuals that are better adapted to the challenges posed by their surroundings. Understanding selective pressure is crucial in studying how populations evolve over time and how certain traits become more common in response to environmental challenges. Other terms such as adaptive radiation, climax community, and punctuated equilibrium relate to different aspects of ecological and evolutionary processes, but they do not specifically denote factors that hinder survival as selective pressure does.