Most plant and animal life forms will avoid continuously low temperatures so here we find an explanation as to why few species are found at high elevation. The cold conditions are damaging to life forms. If this happens inside plant or animal cells it would cause the cells to rupture, damaging the organism, and leading ultimately to death. They become dormant in order to survive low temperatures. Warm blooded animals can survive low temperatures but only at a great cost in terms of energy consumption.
Extreme conditions brings about hibernation.
Pressure differences also show great variation as we move away from sea level. Figure 2 shows differences in pressure in the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. First, we need to know how pressure is measured. A figure of 760 mm is said to be equivalent of one atmosphere of pressure. Of course, conditions described as NTP usually only exist inside a laboratory and in the real world the constantly changing weather patterns bring about widely varying pressure patterns.