Strategy | Plants | Insects | Vertebrates |
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1 'Tough it out' | | | |
Maintain an active adult existence by altering behaviour and physiology with changing conditions. | Plants that continue to photosynthesise, e.g. evergreen trees. | Not an option for most insects. | Mammals that remain active, e.g. fox. Birds that remain active, e.g. robin. |
2 'Opt out' | | | |
Maintain an inactive existence as adults for the duration of the hostile period. | Perennial plants that survive the winter by dying down or going dormant above-ground and/or forming subterranean storage organs, e.g. bulbs and rhizomes. | Survive the hostile period in a state of torpor, e.g. certain wasps, bees and butterflies. | True hibernation in small mammals. Not an option for most birds. Winter torpor in amphibians and reptiles. Freeze-tolerance in amphibians. |
3 Juvenile survival | | | |
Survive the hostile period as some non-adult phase of the life cycle. | Survive the hostile period only in the form of seeds. | Survive the hostile period in the form of eggs, larvae or pupae. | Not an option for vertebrates |
4 'Go away' | | | |
Migrate as adults to a location where conditions are favourable. | Not an option for plants. | Some butterflies migrate north each spring and summer. | Migration in some birds and mammals. |