Organism
Desert Annual Plants
TL;DR
Desert annual plants face extreme rainfall unpredictability (10-fold variation year-to-year) and have evolved bet-hedging through seed dormancy.
Desert annual plants face extreme rainfall unpredictability (10-fold variation year-to-year) and have evolved bet-hedging through seed dormancy. When a plant produces 1,000 seeds, only 10-30% germinate the following year; the remaining 70-90% stay dormant in the soil seed bank for years or decades. This biological insurance sacrifices maximum growth in good years to ensure survival in bad years.
Notable Traits of Desert Annual Plants
- Seed dormancy
- Seed bank maintenance
- 10-30% annual germination rate
- Variance reduction strategy