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Epilobium hirsutum seed head dispersing seeds. In spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. [1] Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, such as the wind, and living vectors such as birds.
The patterns of seed dispersal are determined in large part by the specific dispersal mechanism, and this has important implications for the demographic and genetic structure of plant populations, as well as migration patterns and species interactions. There are five main modes of seed dispersal: gravity, wind, ballistic, water, and by animals.
In general, seeds smaller than 0.1 mg are often unassisted (wind dispersed), seeds larger than 100 mg are often dispersed by vertebrates or by water, and seeds between 0.1 and 100 mg are dispersed by a large variety of dispersal modes including dispersal by a great variety of animals.
Seeds have evolved traits to reward animals to enhance their dispersal abilities. [5] Differing foraging behaviours of animals can lead to selection of dispersal traits and spatial variation [3] [8] such as increase in seed size for mammal dispersal, which can limit seed production. [9]
In leptosporangiate ferns, the fern catapults its spores 1-2 cm so they can be picked up by a second dispersal vector, often the wind. [4]Autochory is the dispersal of diaspores, which are dispersal units consisting of seeds or spores, using only the energy provided by the diaspore or the parent plant. [5]
Myrmecochory is exhibited by more than 3,000 plant species worldwide [3] and is present in every major biome on all continents except Antarctica. [4] Seed dispersal by ants is particularly common in the dry heath and sclerophyll woodlands of Australia (1,500 species) and the South African fynbos (1,000 species).
The seeds are fleshy, short-lived, and germinate rapidly where they land. Being poisonous and distasteful, they are not attractive to candidate transport animals, so the rolling diaspore is a very effective dispersal strategy for such plants. Genera with this means of seed dispersal include Ammocharis, Boophone, Crossyne and Brunsvigia. [17]
Diplochory, also known as “secondary dispersal”, “indirect dispersal” or "two-phase dispersal", is a seed dispersal mechanism in which a plant's seed is moved sequentially by more than one dispersal mechanism or vector. [1]