limiting factor

limiting factor (plural limiting factors)

1. (management accounting) A constraint that limits the business from achieving a higher level of profitability.
2. (biology) A condition that limits the growth or abundance of a population of organisms in an ecosystem.

• 2008, G. Miller, Scott Spoolman, Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 58:

  This ecological principle is called the limiting factor principle: Too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a population, even if all other factors are at or near the optimal range of tolerance.