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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
7 pages in length. Epiphytic plants – those such as herbs that live off other plants – utilized various seed dispersal mechanisms depending upon habitat and whether or not those mechanisms are biotic or abiotic. When examining these criteria, it is important to consider how nature's impact upon said mechanisms can become interwoven with man's attempts to intervene in the natural course of seed dispersal. Of the myriad ways in which epiphytic plants spread their seed and ultimately make it to appropriate sites for germination and establishment, the use of fire, wind and animals represent the primary ways in which new plant growth is made possible. Some plants even employ the help of more than one way in which to disperse their seeds. Bibliography lists 12 sources.
Page Count:
7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: LM1_TLCseeds.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
When examining these criteria, it is important to consider how natures impact upon said mechanisms can become interwoven with mans attempts to intervene in the natural course of seed dispersal.
Of the myriad ways in which epiphytic plants spread their seed and ultimately make it to appropriate sites for germination and establishment, the use of fire, wind and animals
represent the primary ways in which new plant growth is made possible. Some plants even employ the help of more than one way in which to disperse their seeds
(Stamp et al, 1990; Aronne et al, 1994; Traveset et al, 1997). "The dispersal potential of the different modes of dispersal varies greatly. Both wind and vertebrates can
potentially carry seeds far from the parent plant..." (Willson et al, 2000, p. 91). Tropical settings are prone to fire - both biotic and abiotic - that ultimately disperses seeds
by way of burning the parched branches and twigs while at the same time bypassing the still-living components of the parent plant. The compromising issue with tropical settings and
fire, however, is that while epiphytic plant seeds are readily dispersed throughout the scorched area, the other living vegetation - like trees and other sturdy flora - that succumbs to
the blaze are no longer available to the epiphytic plant for its overall growth, thereby rendering the individual plant species dependent upon the process of natural selection. "The mode(s)
of dispersal of any plant species must reflect many different pressures and constraints. Because natural selection must work with existing variation and many plants have very long generation times,
there are inevitable phylogenetic constraints" (Willson et al, 2000, p. 93). By contrast, epiphytic plants found in temperate areas typically utilize vertebrates as
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