Seed dispersal

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 (biotic) vectors such as birds. Seeds can be dispersed away from the parent plant individually or collectively, as well as dispersed in both space and time. The patterns of seed dispersal are determined in large part by the 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. Some plants are serotinous and only disperse their seeds in response to an environmental stimulus. These modes are typically inferred based on adaptations, such as wings or fleshy fruit.[1] However, this simplified view may ignore complexity in dispersal. Plants can disperse via modes without possessing the typical associated adaptations and plant traits may be multifunctional.[2][3]

Epilobium hirsutum seed head dispersing seeds
  1. ^ a b Howe, H F; Smallwood, J (November 1982). "Ecology of Seed Dispersal". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 13 (1): 201–228. doi:10.1146/annurev.es.13.110182.001221. ISSN 0066-4162.
  2. ^ Green, Andy J.; Baltzinger, Christophe; Lovas-Kiss, Ádám (2021-06-24). "Plant dispersal syndromes are unreliable, especially for predicting zoochory and long-distance dispersal". Oikos. 2022 (2). doi:10.1111/oik.08327. hdl:10261/246285. ISSN 0030-1299. S2CID 237880167.
  3. ^ Bullock, James M.; Shea, Katriona; Skarpaas, Olav (2006-10-01). "Measuring plant dispersal: an introduction to field methods and experimental design". Plant Ecology. 186 (2): 217–234. Bibcode:2006PlEco.186..217B. doi:10.1007/s11258-006-9124-5. ISSN 1573-5052. S2CID 26926442.