Seed dispersal is a way that plants spread their seeds to populate more areas of the world.

 Plants have evolved to disperse their seeds in different ways, using their environment to help the seeds to be spread as far as possible.

The wide dispersion of the seeds is important because of three reasons:

 

1. To spread the plants so they don’t have to compete over same nutrients

2. So that they can find better areas to populate and grow

3. The last reason is if there were a natural disaster (e.g: earthquake or flood) the flowers could stay populated and repopulate the world.

 

Flowers are an important part of our lives because they provide us with oxygen.

 

Types of Seed Dispersal -

 

There are five types of Seed Dispersal: 

• Gravity

• Wind

• Animal

• Explosion

• Water 

Each plant has adapted to the dispersal due to their

different needs, and environment.

 

 

Anemochary (Wind Dispersal) -

 

Wind is a common dispersal method for plants such as

the Dandelion, the Sycamore and Maple trees.

It lets the plants seed travel long-range

and flutter gently to the ground.

Wind dispersal is known to be a more primitive method

of dispersal and has been known to be an effective one.

 

 

Hydrochory (Water Dispersal) –

 

Water is an uncommon method of seed dispersal with only plants like lilies, palm trees and mangroves.

Depending on the body of water, hydrochory (water dispersal) can be very short or extremely long. Some have been known to travel over the ocean!

It has also been reported of seeds that go into water that sink, such as a mangrove, and would grow in the water.

 

 

Barochory (Gravity Dispersal) –

 

Gravity applies to only a couple of fruits/plants.

This is because most of the plants

that use this method have a hard shell.

Common barochary-dispersed fruits are:

coconuts, apples and acorns.

The way they disperse is when the shells break, releasing the seeds.

 

 

Zoochory (Animal Dispersal) –

 

Zoochory is animal seed dispersal.

There are two ways that zoochory works;

the first one is a plant,

like the Bur, hooks onto an animal’s fur.

When the animal shakes its fur the seeds disperse.

The second method is when birds eat

something, such as a berry, and when it

excretes the berry, the seeds get planted.

 

 

Burst Dispersal –

 

Some seeds disperse by exploding.

Not by going BOOM or like dynamite, but like shooting the seeds forward.

Plants that do this are generally pod plants,

like the Pea Pod and Violets.

This isn’t generally a common method of dispersal,

as only a couple of plants use this method.