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  • Essay / The Importance of Seed Dispersal - 896

    Seed dispersal is the transport or movement of seeds away from the parent plant in order to help prevent overpopulation (if this happens, the plants will not will not have enough food and light to survive in the area). ) and contribute to the creation of new colonies. Thus giving the seed the best chance of germinating in a new location away from the parent plant and hopefully creating new colonies. Due to the fact that plants have limited mobility, they rely on various dispersal vectors to transport their seeds via abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) vectors. There are five main methods of seed dispersal: animals, gravity, wind, ballistics, and water (1). Fire is also another means of seed dispersal, but it is not as common as other methods. The biotic means would be animals or Homo sapiens (humans). Animals disperse seeds (zoochory) in several ways, as plants take advantage of animals and their ability to move to help them disperse their seeds away from the parent plant. One of the ways dispersal occurs if the animal ingests the seed, then the seed would be excreted in its feces (endozoochory) (2) such as strawberries, raspberries and walnuts. Another solution would be for the seeds to get tangled in the animal's fur or feathers and be hitched to another location, where they will eventually fall or be wiped away by the animal, such as goose grass or sticky grass (3). Some animals also buried the seeds with the intention of returning later to collect them. Like a squirrel with acorns, but it's not always possible for them to come back (4). Humans are believed to contribute to seed dispersal by planting the seeds or attaching them to clothing and shoes. Humans were once classified as animals in seed dispersal, but they can now sometimes be middle of paper....... There would be serious overpopulation if they simply fell where the plant is located mother, meaning the seeds would not receive enough sunlight, water, or space to grow and develop properly. If all members of a species were to be grouped together in the same area, it would make them more vulnerable to risks such as fire or disease. By dispersing seeds over a wider area, the risk of this happening would be greatly reduced (11). Seed dispersal is necessary to ensure that as many seeds as possible have a chance to grow and develop properly, so that they can then develop their own seeds (8). The loss of herbivores such as the wild ox (bos primigenius) in the Caledonian forest has deprived this area of ​​an important dispersal agent but there are still other herbivores such as rodents which can still help maintain seed dispersal. (11).