View source for Bet-Hedging Strategy

'''Bet-hedging strategy''' is an evolutionary strategy in which organisms produce offspring with diverse phenotypes as insurance against environmental unpredictability. Rather than betting all offspring on a single phenotype that is optimal for the current environment, a bet-hedging genotype generates a distribution of phenotypes, ensuring that at least some offspring will survive whatever environmental conditions arise.

The classic example is seed dormancy in desert plants: a plant produces seeds with variable germination times, so that some seeds germinate immediately after rain while others remain dormant for years. If the rain is followed by drought, the immediate germinators die but the dormant seeds survive. If the rain initiates a wet period, the immediate germinators flourish. The genotype does not predict the future; it diversifies its bets.

Bet-hedging is a form of [[Phenotypic Switching|phenotypic switching]] that is stochastic rather than responsive. Unlike responsive switching, which uses environmental cues to produce the appropriate phenotype, bet-hedging produces a random distribution that is uncorrelated with the current environment. The strategy is favored when environmental cues are unreliable or when the cost of producing the wrong phenotype is catastrophic.

[[Category:Evolution]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Strategy]]