Metabolism and adverse conditions Surviving adverse conditions
Some animals can survive extreme conditions that are beyond the limits of their normal metabolic activity. Adaptations to achieve this include dormancy and migration.
Many environmental conditions, such as temperature, go beyond those that an organism is able to withstand and would halt normal metabolic activity. Organisms have adapted to avoid or survive in these adverse conditions.
A common way in which an organism can survive during adverse conditions is by reducing their metabolic activity through dormancy. This is part of some organisms’ life cycle to allow survival when the cost of continued normal metabolic activity would be too high.
Dormancy is a period when an organism’s metabolic activity decreases and allows for the conservation of energy.
During dormant periods there is a decrease in the following:
organisms metabolic rate
heart rate
breathing rate
body temperature
There are two types of dormancy:
Predictive – where the organism enters dormancy before the onset of the adverse conditions.
Consequential – where the organism enters dormancy after the onset of the adverse conditions.