**Animal Dormancy:**
– Dormancy is a period when growth and physical activity stop in animals.
– Predictive dormancy occurs before adverse conditions, while consequential dormancy occurs after adverse conditions.
– Hibernation is a form of dormancy in mammals, involving physiological changes.
– Diapause, predetermined by an animal’s genotype, is used by insects and some mammals to suspend development.
– Aestivation is consequential dormancy in response to hot or dry conditions, helping animals conserve energy during extreme conditions.
– Brumation is how ectotherms like lizards become dormant in cold, triggered by decreased heat and daylight hours.
**Plant Dormancy:**
– Dormancy in plants is a survival strategy in harsh conditions, involving slowing growth in response to environmental cues.
– Trees and other plants exhibit dormancy patterns that vary among species.
– Seed dormancy, caused by endogenous embryo characteristics, affects germination and growth.
– Control and development of dormancy in cereals and other plants are critical for growth.
– Chemical treatments can break dormancy in woody plants, and different types of dormancy exist, such as quiescence and correlated inhibition.
**Microbial Dormancy:**
– Bacteria survive adverse conditions by forming endospores, cysts, or reducing metabolic activity, contributing to high diversity in ecosystems.
– Dormancy in microbial spores plays a crucial role in microbial survival.
– Dormant bacteria have cytoplasm behaving like a solid glass, fluidized by metabolic activity.
– The presence-absence of a visible nucleoid in bacterioplankton cells is related to metabolic activity.
– Latent herpesviruses are present in humans, showing dormancy in viruses is not metabolic but can be activated externally.
**Research and Academic Contributions:**
– Scholarly works and research articles provide insights into various aspects of dormancy in animals, plants, and microbes.
– Academic institutions like Heriot-Watt University and reputable journals contribute to dormancy research.
– Studies on seed coat impermeability in legumes and environmental influences on embryo dormancy are essential for agricultural science.
– Various publications and citations explore microbial spores’ dormancy, plant physiology, and dormancy in cereals.
– Universities and research institutions worldwide conduct studies on dormancy in various organisms, contributing to the field.
**Additional Concepts:**
– Scotobiology studies the effects of darkness on organisms, while torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity.
– Various researchers have explored different aspects of dormancy, such as botany for gardeners, molecular aspects of hibernation, and heat from calcium cycling.
– The Fourth International Symposium on Pre-Harvest Sprouting in Cereals and other academic resources delve into specific aspects of dormancy in plants and cereals.
– Environmental factors can influence embryo dormancy in seeds, highlighting the importance of understanding plant physiology.
– Dormancy contributes significantly to the maintenance of microbial diversity and plays a crucial role in the survival of various organisms in adverse conditions.
Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy. Dormancy tends to be closely associated with environmental conditions. Organisms can synchronize entry to a dormant phase with their environment through predictive or consequential means. Predictive dormancy occurs when an organism enters a dormant phase before the onset of adverse conditions. For example, photoperiod and decreasing temperature are used by many plants to predict the onset of winter. Consequential dormancy occurs when organisms enter a dormant phase after adverse conditions have arisen. This is commonly found in areas with an unpredictable climate. While very sudden changes in conditions may lead to a high mortality rate among animals relying on consequential dormancy, its use can be advantageous, as organisms remain active longer and are therefore able to make greater use of available resources.
