INTRODUCTION

Seed dispersal is the way seeds get from

the parent plant to a new place. "Dispersal"
means to spread or scatter. The basic idea is
as follows. Plants, obviously, cannot move
after they have put down roots. It follows
that it is an evolutionary advantage to get
their seeds away from the parent plant. If
the seeds take root nearby they will
compete with each other and the parent
plant. Also, a species is more likely to
survive when its members are widely
spread. This is because local disasters still
leave plants in other places.
From the first land plants in
the Silurian period for 300 million years to
the Lower Cretaceous, virtually all
transport of spores and seeds was done by
mechanical means. In fact, for most types of
plants both fertilisation and dispersal was
done by wind. If not wind, then water was
the medium. A great change took place with
the appearance of flowering plants in the
Cretaceous.
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The story of flowers and insects is one of the
best examples of co-evolution. The gut
contents, wing structures, and mouthparts
of fossilizedbeetles and flies suggest that
they acted as early pollinators. The
association
between beetles and angiosperms during
the Lower Cretaceous period led to
parallel radiations of angiosperms and
insects in the Upper Cretaceous. The
evolution of nectaries in Upper Cretaceous
flowers signals the beginning of
the mutualism between hymenopterans and
angiosperms.
What is true of fertilisation is also true of
dispersal. Spores, the tiny products of lower
plants, are almost always dispersed by
wind. So are many seeds. Some seeds, and
their later development, fruits, are
obviously adaptations to a world full of
animals. If they are dispersed by being
eaten, it is advantageous for them to be
nutritious and good to eat. So spores, seeds
and fruits may get dispersed mechanicallly
or by animals:

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 Mechanical means:
 Spores and seeds dispersed by wind

are light, and get blown easily. An extra

step is when the spores or seeds are
blown out forcibly.
 Spores and seeds may be fired out by

force in some cases.

 Seeds and fruits dispersed by water

can float.
 Zoological means:
 Many fruits are eaten animals, and the

seeds are dropped after the fruit

is digested.
 Some fruits are carried on

the fur of mammals.

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 PRESENTATION
Seed dispersal is the movement or transport
of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants
have limited mobility and consequently rely
upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport
their prop gules, including
both abiotic and biotic vectors. 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. It can be measured
using seed traps.

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Benefits of seed dispersal
Seed dispersal is likely to have several benefits
for plant species. First, seed survival is often
higher away from the parent plant. This higher
survival may result from the actions of density-
dependent seed and seedling predators
and pathogens, which often target the high
concentrations of seeds beneath
adults. Competition with adult plants may also
be lower when seeds are transported away from
their parent.
Seed dispersal also allows plants to reach
specific habitats that are favourable for
survival, a hypothesis known as directed
dispersal. For example, Ocotea
endresiana (Lauraceae) is a tree species from
Latin America which is dispersed by several
species of birds, including the three-wattled
bellbird. Male bellbirds perch on dead trees in
order to attract mates, and often defecate seeds
beneath these perches where the seeds have a
high chance of survival because of high light
conditions and escape from fungal pathogens. In
the case of fleshy-fruited plants, seed-dispersal
in animal guts (endozoochory) often enhances
the amount, the speed, and the asynchrony of
germination, which can have important plant
benefits. Seeds dispersed by ants
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(myrmecochory) are not only dispersed to short
distances but are also buried underground by
the ants. These seeds can thus avoid adverse
environmental effects such as fire or drought,
reach nutrient-rich microsites and survive
longer than other seeds. These features are
peculiar to myrmecochory, which may thus
provide additional benefits not present in other
dispersal modes.
Finally, at another scale, seed dispersal may
allow plants to colonize vacant habitats and
even new geographic regions.
Types of dispersal
Seed dispersal is sometimes split into
'autochory (when dispersal is attained using the
plant's own means) and allochory (when
obtained through external means).
Autochory
Gravity
Barochory or the plant use of gravity for
dispersal is a simple means of achieving seed
dispersal. The effect of gravity on heavier fruits
causes them to fall from the plant when ripe.
Fruits exhibiting this type of dispersal
include apples, coconuts and passionfruit and
those with harder shells (which often roll away
from the plant to gain more distance). Gravity
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dispersal also allows for later transmission by
water or animal.
Two other types of autochory are ballochory (the
seed is forcefully ejected by dehiscence and
squeezing) and herpochory (the seed crawls by
means of trichomes and changes in humidity).

Allochory
Wind

Wind dispersal of dandelion seeds

Entada phaseoloides – Hydrochory

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Wind dispersal (anemochory) is one of the more
primitive means of dispersal. Wind dispersal
can take on one of two primary forms: seeds can
float on the breeze or alternatively, they can
flutter to the ground. The classic examples of
these dispersal mechanisms include dandelions,
which have a feathey pappus attached to their
seeds and can be dispersed long distances,
and maples, which have winged seeds (samara)
and flutter to the ground. An important
constraint on wind dispersal is the need for
abundant seed production to maximise the
likelihood of a seed landing in a site suitable
forgermination. There are also strong
evolutionary constraints on this dispersal
mechanism. For instance, Cody and Overton
(1996) found that species in the Asteraceae on
islands tended to have reduced dispersal
capabilities (i.e., larger seed mass and smaller
pappus) relative to the same species on the
mainland. Reliance on wind dispersal is common
among many weedy or ruderal species. Unusual
mechanisms of wind dispersal
includetumbleweeds.
Water
Many aquatic (water) and some terrestrial
(ground) plant species use hydrochory, or seed
dispersal through water. Seeds can travel for
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extremely long distances, depending on the
specific mode of water dispersal.
The water lily is an example of such a plant.
Water lilies' flowers make a fruit that floats in
the water for a while and then drops down to the
bottom to take root on the floor of the pond. The
seeds of palm trees can also be dispersed by
water. If they grow near oceans, the seeds can
be transported byocean currents over long
distances, allowing the seeds to be dispersed as
far as other continents.
Mangrove trees live right in the water.
Their seeds fall from the tree and grow roots as
soon as they touch any kind of soil. During low
tide, they might fall in soil instead of water and
start growing right where they fell. If the water
level is high, however, they can be carried far
away from where they fell. Mangrove trees often
make little islands as dirt and other things
collect in their roots, making little bodies of
land.
An special review for oceanic waters hydrochory
can be seen at oceanic dispersal.

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Showing the "bill" and seed dispersal mechanism
of Geranium pratense
Explosive action
Some fruits can fling (throw) their seeds away
when they are ripe. This is a type of rapid plant
movement, where the fruit is thrown from a
little "machine".
Pea pods often use mechanical dispersal. When
the seeds are ready, the pod dries up. When the
pod dries, the inside of the pod dries faster than
the outside. This makes the pod twist inside,
suddenly splitting open violently, rolling into a
little spiral. When this roll happens, it makes
the seeds fly out of the pod in all directions.
Impatiens – called "touch-me-nots" or "jewel
weeds" – is a large genus of flowering plants.
When the seeds are ripe and ready, the
dried fruit becomes a trigger. When
an animal or humantouches the plant, it bursts
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open and sprays the seeds everywhere. If the
ground is wet, the seeds can germinate right
where they land; they can also stick to the
creature that made the capsule burst open. This
can help them be carried off to a new place.
Violets and gorses use mechanical dispersal, too.
When the seeds are ready, it opens with a loud
"POP!" sound. Another fruit called the
squirting cucumber uses mechanical dispersal,
too. There are hundreds of other fruits that use
mechanical dispersal.

Dispersal by animals
Notice the small hooks on the surface of a bur;
this enables attachment to animal fur for
dispersion.

Epizoochory in Bidens tripartita; the seeds have

attached to the clothes of ahuman.
Animals can disperse plant seeds in several
ways, all named zoochory. Seeds can be
transported on the outside of vertebrate animals
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(mostly mammals), a process known
as epizoochory. Plant species transported
externally by animals can have a variety of
adaptations for dispersal, including adhesive
mucus, and a variety of hooks, spines and
barbs. A typical example of an epizoochorous
plant is Trifolium angustifolium, a species
of Old World clover which adheres to animal fur
by means of stiff hairs covering
the seed. Epizoochorous plants tend to be
herbaceous plants, with many representative
species in the
families Apiaceae and Asteraceae. However,
epizoochory is a relatively rare dispersal
syndrome for plants as a whole; the percentage
of plant species with seeds adapted for transport
on the outside of animals is estimated to be
below 5%. Nevertheless, epizoochorous transport
can be highly effective if seeds attach to wide-
ranging animals. This form of seed dispersal has
been implicated in rapid plant migration and
the spread of invasive species.
Seed dispersal via ingestion by vertebrate
animals (mostly birds and mammals),
or endozoochory, is the dispersal mechanism for
most tree species. Endozoochory is generally a
coevolved mutualistic relationship in which a
plant surrounds seeds with an edible, nutritious

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fruit as a good food for animals that consume it.
Birds and mammals are the most important
seed dispersers, but a wide variety of other
animals, including turtles and fish, can
transport viable seeds. The exact percentage of
tree species dispersed by endozoochory varies
between habitats, but can range to over 90% in
some tropical rainforests. Seed dispersal by
animals in tropical rainforests has received
much attention, and this interaction is
considered an important force shaping the
ecology and evolution of vertebrate and tree
populations. In the tropics, large animal seed
dispersers (such
as tapirs,chimpanzees and hornbills) may
disperse large seeds with few other seed
dispersal agents. The extinction of these
large frugivores from poaching and habitat loss
may have negative effects on the tree
populations that depend on them for seed
dispersal.
Seed dispersal by ants (myrmecochory) is a
dispersal mechanism of many shrubs of the
southern hemisphere or understorey herbs of
the northern hemisphere. Seeds of
myrmecochorous plants have a lipid-rich
attachment called the elaiosome, which attracts
ants. Ants carry such seeds into their colonies,

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feed the elaiosome to their larvae and discard
the otherwise intact seed in an underground
chamber. Myrmecochory is thus a coevolved
mutualistic relationship between plants and
seed-disperser ants. Myrmecochory has
independently evolved at least 100 times in
flowering plants and is estimated to be present
in at least 11 000 species, but likely up to 23 000
or 9% of all species of flowering
plants. Myrmecochorous plants are most
frequent in the fynbos vegetation of the Cape
Floristic Region of South Africa, the kwongan
vegetation and other dry habitat types of
Australia, dry forests and grasslands of the
Mediterranean region and northern temperate
forests of western Eurasia and eastern North
America, where up to 30–40% of understorey
herbs are myrmecochorous.
Seed predators, which include many rodents
(such as squirrels) and some birds (such as jays)
may also disperse seeds by hoarding the seeds in
hidden caches. The seeds in caches are usually
well-protected from other seed predators and if
left uneaten will grow into new plants. In
addition, rodents may also disperse seeds via
seed spitting due to the presence of secondary
metabolites in ripe fruits. Finally, seeds may be
secondarily dispersed from seeds deposited by

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primary animal dispersers. For example, dung
beetles are known to disperse seeds from clumps
of feces in the process of collecting dung to feed
their larvae.
Other types of zoochory are chiropterochory (by
bats), malacochory (by molluscs, mainly
terrestrial snails) or ornithochory (by birds).
Dispersal by humans

Seed dispersal by a car.

Dispersal by humans (anthropochory) used to be
seen as a form of dispersal by animals. Recent
research points out that human dispersers differ
from animal dispersers by a much higher
mobility based on the technical means of human
transport. Dispersal by humans on the one hand
may act on large geographical scales and lead
to invasive species. On the other hand, dispersal
by humans also acts on smaller, regional scales
and drives the dynamics of existing
biological populations. Humans may disperse
seeds by many various means and some
surprisingly high distances have been
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repeatedly measured. Examples are: dispersal
on human clothes (up to 250 m), on shoes (up to
5 km) or by cars (regularly ~ 250m, singles cases
> 100 km).
Deliberate seed dispersal also occurs as seed
bombing. This has risks as unsuitable
provenance may introduce genetically
unsuitable plants to new environments.
Oceanic dispersal is a type of biological
dispersal that occurs when organisms transfer
from one land mass to another by way of a sea
crossing. Often this occurs via large mats of
floating vegetation, such as are sometimes seen
floating down major rivers in the tropics and
washing out to sea, occasionally with animals
trapped on them. Dispersal via such a raft is
sometimes referred to as a "rafting event."
History
Rafting has played an important role in the
colonization of isolated land masses, such
as Madagascar, which has been isolated for
~120 million years (Ma), and South America,
which was isolated for much of the Cenozoic.
Both land masses, for example, appear to have
received their primates by this mechanism.
According to genetic evidence, the common
ancestor of the lemursof Madagascar appears to

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have crossed the Mozambique Channel by
rafting between 50 and 60 Ma ago. Likewise,
the New World monkeys are thought to have
originated in Africa and rafted to South
America by the Oligocene, when the continents
were much closer than they are
today. Madagascar also appears to have received
its tenrecs (25–42 Ma ago), nesomyid rodents
(20–24 Ma ago) and euplerid carnivorans (19–26
Ma ago) by this route and South America
its caviomorph rodents (over 30 Ma ago). Simian
primates (ancestral to monkeys)
andhystricognath rodents (ancestral to
caviomorphs) are believed to have similarly
dispersed from Asia to Africa about 40 Ma ago.
Among reptiles, several iguanid species in the
South Pacific have been hypothesized to be
descended from iguanas that rafted 10,000
kilometres (6,200 mi) from Central or South
America (an alternative theory involves
dispersal of a putative now-extinct iguana
lineage from Australia or Asia).
Similarly, skinks of the related
genera Mabuya and Trachylepis apparently
both floated across the Atlantic from Africa to
South America and Fernando de Noronha,
respectively, during the last 9 Ma. Skinks from
the same group have also rafted from Africa to

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the Cape Verde islands, Madagascar,
the Seychelles,
the Comoros and Socotra. (Among lizards,
skinks and geckoes seem especially capable of
surviving long transoceanic journeys.)
Colonization of groups of islands can occur by
an iterative rafting process sometimes
called island hopping. Such a process appears to
have played a role, for example, in the
colonization of theCaribbean by mammals of
South American origin (including caviomorphs
and monkeys).
However, oceanic dispersal of terrestrial species
may not always take the form of rafting; in some
cases, swimming or simply floating may suffice.
Tortoises of the genus Chelonoidis arrived in
South America from Africa in the
Oligocene; they were probably aided by their
ability to float with their heads up, and to
survive up to six months without food or fresh
water. The dispersal ofanthracotheres from Asia
to Africa about 40 Ma ago, and the much more
recent dispersal of hippos (descendants of
anthracotheres) from Africa to Madagascar may
have occurred by floating or swimming.
Biantitropical (or amphitropical) distribution
refers to the pattern of species that exist at
comparable latitudes across the equator but not
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in the tropics. For example, a species may be
found north of the Tropic of Cancer and south of
the Tropic of Capricorn, but not in between. This
usually has to do with the optimal temperature
for the species existing at both latitudes. How
the life forms distribute themselves to the
opposite hemisphere when they can't normally
survive in the middle depends on the species;
plants may have their seed spread through
wind, animal, or other methods (dispersal) and
then germinate upon reaching the appropriate
climate, while sea life may be able to travel
through the tropical regions in a larval state or
by going through deep ocean currents with much
colder temperatures than on the surface.

Consequences of seed dispersal

Seed dispersal has many consequences for the
ecology and evolution of plants. Dispersal is
necessary for species migrations, and in recent
times dispersal ability is an important factor in
whether or not a species transported to a new
habitat by humans will become an invasive
species. Dispersal is also predicted to play a
major role in the origin and maintenance of
species diversity. For example, myrmecochory
increased the rate of diversification more than
twofold in plant groups in which it has evolved
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because myrmecochorous lineages contain more
than twice as many species as their non-
myrmecochorous sister groups. Dispersal of
seeds away from the parent organism has a
central role in two major theories for how
biodiversity is maintained in natural
ecosystems, the Janzen-Connell hypothesis and
recruitment limitation. Seed dispersal is
essential in allowing forest migrationof
flowering plants.

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2. INFORMATION FROM LIBRARY
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