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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.
Anemochory is defined as seed dispersal by wind. Common dispersal syndromes of anemochory are wing structures [8] and brown or dull coloured seeds without further rewards. [12] Van der Pijl named seeds for anemochory flyers, rollers, or throwers to represent the seed dispersal syndromes and their behaviour.
Reliance upon wind dispersal is common among many weedy or ruderal species. Unusual mechanisms of wind dispersal include tumbleweeds. A related process to anemochory is anemophily, which is the process where pollen is distributed by wind. Large families of plants are pollinated in this manner, which is favored when individuals of the dominant ...
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]
Anemochory is dispersal of units by wind. Wind is a major agent of long distance dispersal that helps to spread species to new habitats. [20] Each species has its own "wind dispersal potential". This is the proportion of dispersal units (seeds, spores or pollen) that travel farther than a specific distance travelled under normal weather ...
Wind and animal dispersals are two major mechanisms involved in the dispersal of conifer seeds. Wind-born seed dispersal involves two processes, namely; local neighborhood dispersal and long-distance dispersal. Long-distance dispersal distances range from 11.9–33.7 kilometres (7.4–20.9 mi) from the source. [26]
Tumbleweeds are dispersed by wind, sometimes over very long distances. These occur in a variety of weedy and ruderal species native to steppes and deserts. Grasses have various units of dispersal: rarely the caryopsis alone, often a diaspore. [2] Disarticulation occurs below, between, or above the glumes and at all nodes. [2]