Author: Natalie Jones, Lecturer in Ecology, Griffith University

What can plants or animals do when faced with harsh conditions? Two options for survival seem most obvious: move elsewhere or adapt to their environment. Some organisms have a third option. They can escape not through space but through time, by entering a dormant state until conditions improve. As it turns out, dormancy may not only benefit the species who use it. In new research, we found that a propensity for dormancy may affect the balance of competition between species, and make it possible for more species to survive together when environments change. What is dormancy? Many organisms use dormancy…