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Drift seeds (also sea beans) and drift fruits are seeds and fruits adapted for long-distance dispersal by water. Most are produced by tropical trees, and they can be found on distant beaches after drifting thousands of miles through ocean currents .
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.
This type of seed dispersal is termed myrmecochory from the Greek "ant" (myrmex) and "circular dance" (khoreíā). This type of symbiotic relationship appears to be mutualistic , more specifically dispersive mutualism according to Ricklefs, R.E. (2001), as the plant benefits because its seeds are dispersed to favorable germination sites, and ...
Hydrochory is seed dispersal by water. [13] Seeds can disperse by rain or ice or be submerged in water. Seeds dispersed by water need to have the ability to float and resist water damage. They often have hairs to assist with enlargement and floating. More features that cause floating are air space, lightweight tissues and corky tissues.
A diaspore of seed(s) plus fruit is common in plants dispersed by frugivores. Fruit-eating bats typically carry the diaspore to a favorite perch, where they eat the fruit and discard the seed. Fruit-eating birds typically swallow small seeds but, like bats, may carry larger seeded fruits to a perch where they eat the fruit and discard the seed.
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).
More than one dispersal vector (abiotic or biotic) is thought to be involved in the majority of seed dispersal events (on average 2.15 dispersal vectors in Dutch ecosystems). [2] Seeds may be transported in turn by various animal or abiotic mechanisms such as wind or water. [1] [3]
Ipomoea imperati, the beach morning-glory (a name it shares with Ipomoea pes-caprae), is a species of flowering plant in the family Convolvulaceae.Like Ipomoea pes-caprae, its seeds disperse by floating in seawater.