Seed Dispersal Mechanisms: its Consequences at Population and Community Levels

Abstract

Seed dispersal is very important for biodiversity conservation in plant kingdom. The landscape structure has strong effects on the distances travelled by seeds, regardless of whether they are dispersed by autochory or by allochory. Autochory means when dispersal is acquired by using the plant’s very own manner. Allochory means when seed dispersal obtained through outside manner like abiotic vectors such as the wind and biotic vectors. So, any type of concern, such as habitat fragmentation or habitat modification by an invasive plant species for instance, is likely to convert the patterns of seed movement, the patterns of seed engagement, as well as the genetic structure of the plant populations. When the dispersal occurred by wind, the mechanism is called anemochory. For wind dispersal, the plant requires certain adaptations which enable them to be dispersed easily by wind. On the other hand, in water dispersal the fruits and seeds which are dispersed by water develop certain floating mechanism, which supply buoyancy to them and help in floating. The animals and humans also play a vital role to disperse seed from one place to other places. Seed dispersal sometimes may be disadvantageous if the seed is mechanically damaged by the dispersal vectors then it will not germinate and ultimately that will not fulfil its objectives. But most of the cases, seed dispersal of plants has progressed generally quickly and has produced new individual plants to maintain our ecological system.

Cite as

Sudipta Biswas, & Sanjoy Kumar Bordolui. (2021). Seed Dispersal Mechanisms: its Consequences at Population and Community Levels. Research and Reviews: Journal of Environmental Sciences, 3(3), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5497223