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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.
Ants disperse seeds in fairly predictable ways, either by disposing of them in underground middens or by ejecting them from the nest. [2] These patterns of ant dispersal are predictable enough to permit plants to manipulate animal behaviour and influence seed fate, [13] effectively directing the dispersal of seeds to desirable sites. For ...
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]
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]
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 ...