Wind Dispersal Essay

The seeds of a plant is vital for the survival a species and the genetic information of the individual parent. In plants, seed dispersal is the movement of the plant’s offspring away from places with high population density. Plants produce new seeds in order for the seeds to later grow into new plants; however, the seeds need to be able to obtain sunlight, water, and nutrients from the soil, so, the seeds can cannot fall to the ground next to the parent. If the seeds are not dispersed, then the new seedlings will grow close to the parent plant which results in competition.

Because plants are usually immobile organisms, they will need to use different means to disperse seeds. The ways that plants disperse seeds are by air, water, and the use of animals.

In air dispersal, the seeds of the parent plant rely on the air and wind to carry the seeds. Some functions of wind dispersal include helicopters, tumbleweeds, gliders, parachutes, and cotton seeds.

Helicopters use a wind with a subtle pitch like

Parachutes allow the seed to gently sail across respectable amounts of land. A well-known example of a plant that utilizes parachutes is the dandelion. A method of wind dispersal that is very similar to parachutes are cottony seeds. Cottony seeds are seeds that are held in a seed capsule that is attached to cotton-like hairs. Seeds can also be embedded within a mass of cottony hairs.

Many plants also have seeds that take advantage of water to disperse the seeds. The seeds can simply fall from the tree to either land in the soil during low tide and spawn a new plant there or the seeds can land in the water which leads to the seeds being carried away by the water current to a new location. At this new location, the plant can grow. An example of this is the Kōwhai tree. The seeds of the Kōwhai tree have hard seed coatings which gives them the ability to flow down rivers and