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An alternating active-dormitive strategy enables disadvantaged prey to outcompete the perennially active prey through Parrondo's paradox.

Tao WenEugene V KooninKang Hao Cheong
Published in: BMC biology (2021)
We show that dormancy can be an effective adaptive strategy to outcompete superior prey, recapitulating the game-theoretic Parrondo's paradox, where two losing strategies combine to achieve a winning outcome. We suggest that the species with the ability to switch between the active and dormant forms can dominate communities via competitive exclusion.
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