The plant-parasitic nematode Ditylenchus dipsaci shows a delay in recovery following a period of desiccation and reimmersion in water. This delay, called the \"lag phase\", has been shown to be related to the severity of desiccation. It is the severity of the desiccation stress during dehydration, rather than the final relative humidity to which the animal is exposed which determines the length of the lag phase. A lag phase appears even after a brief exposure to desiccation. These results indicate that a period of repair, or the restoration of a normal physiological state, must be undertaken before activity can resume.