Seed disperser
Seed dispersers carry seeds away from the parent plant either deliberately or accidentally. Some, such as ants, squirrels and mice, collect and store seeds (including nuts). If the store is forgotten, or the animal dies, the seeds might germinate. Other animals eat a plant's fruit and scatter the undigested seeds in their dung. Finally, some seeds are sticky or have hooks that catch on to fur and feathers, so the seed can hitch-hike to a new location.
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Fig facts 
Fish and fruit
Berry beautiful
The Nature of Britain
Trees spread their seeds with the help of berries, and the animals that eat them.
Ant's harvest
Realms of the Russian Bear
Storing grain and seeds is unusual for these desert dwellers.
Featured in the following TV programmes
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Archived
Andes to Amazon: LOST WORLDS
2nd of a 6 part series exploring the wildlife & wild places of South America. Looks at the Amazon river and its flooded forests.
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Archived
Land of the Tiger: THE TIGER'S DOMAIN
On the final stage of his epic journey, Valmik travels to the lush monsoon forests of Assam,South India's Western Ghats and across the sea to Sri Lanka.
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Archived
The Nature of Britain: Woodland Britain
Alan Titchmarsh discovers the secrets of our ancient woodlands.
Species with this adaptation
Birds
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Demoiselle crane
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Siberian crane
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Ringnecked parakeet
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Raggiana bird of paradise
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Six-wired bird of paradise
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Superb bird of paradise
Mammals
Giant panda 
Spectacled bear 
Argali sheep 
Markhor 
Musk ox 
Plateau pika 
Brush-tailed rock wallaby 
Bornean orangutan 
Chimpanzee 
Indri 
Olive baboon 
Verreaux's sifaka 
African bush elephant About
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 propagules, 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.
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Other Ecosystem role Adaptations
- Pollinator
- Seed disperser
Elsewhere on the web
- Seed dispersal (wikipedia.org)
Site links
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