Spore bearing plants examples with names11/14/2023 ![]() Dispersal contributes to inter-community connectivity, and diversity within and among communities depends on the extent of connectivity among parts of a metacommunity and varies across spatial scale. The movement of propagules can drive community composition through priority effects as well as the differential species-specific dispersal of seeds. In addition, it plays a pivotal role in ecological assembly by generating and maintaining diversity within and among communities. At a population level, dispersal maintains gene flow within metapopulations and increases connectivity across the landscape. The deposition of propagules in locations with particular characteristics can largely impact seedling germination and survival. By moving, plant propagules are potentially able to escape competition with conspecifics and avoid density-dependent mortality owing to herbivores and/or parasites. ![]() Dispersal sets the context for the majority of the plant life cycle, from germination through to senescence. Our findings suggest that diffuse bird–bryophyte dispersal networks are likely to be common in habitats where birds readily encounter bryophytes and that further work aimed at understanding individual bird–bryophyte species relationships may prove valuable in determining nuance within this newly described dispersal mechanism.ĭispersal is often a brief period of an organism's life history but is an especially important life stage for sessile organisms such as plants, which otherwise maintain a sedentary lifestyle. We found that avian–bryophyte associations are constrained within the network, with species-specific and foraging guild effects on the variety of bryophytes found on bird species. We examined the level of interaction specificity: (i) within the overall network to assess community level patterns and (ii) at the plant species level to determine the effect of bird behaviour on network structure. We found 24 bryophyte species across 34 bird species. We captured birds in Gifford Pinchot National Forest to sample their legs and tails for bryophyte propagules. Though little is known about species-specific dispersal relationships between passerine birds and bryophytes, birds are particularly attractive as a potential bryophyte dispersal vector given their highly vagile nature as well as their association with bryophytes when foraging and building nests. Our understanding of this phenomenon in spore plants is comparatively limited. After the female gametes are fertilised by male gametes from the pollen, the female cones produce seeds, which are then scattered away from the plant by wind or animals.Studies from seed plants have shown that animal dispersal fundamentally alters the success of plant dispersal, shaping community composition through time. Male cones make pollen, which is carried to female cones by the wind. Next time you pick up a pine cone, look for loose seeds inside. Gymnosperms are seed plants but their seeds are held in cones. We all know the showy flowers of native kōwhai, flax and pōhutakawa and all those lovely coloured flowers in our gardens, but the tall toetoe and the grasses in our lawns are also flowering plants. New Zealand has about 2,000 native angiosperms, and an amazing 25,000 introduced species found mainly in gardens, farms and orchards.įlowering plants are all around us, even if sometimes we don’t recognise them as having flowers. ![]() ![]() Fruit can be soft like oranges or hard like nuts.įlowering plants form the biggest group of seed plants, with about 300,000 species around the world – that’s 90% of the whole plant kingdom. In most angiosperms, part of the flower develops into fruit, which protects the seeds inside them. The ovules develop into seeds from which new plants will grow. Pollen is carried from a male part to a female part by wind, insects or other animals (a process called pollination), where it releases male gametes that fertilise the female gametes in the ovules. Some plants have these male and female parts in different flowers. They contain male parts that make pollen and female parts that contain ovules. The flowers are special structures for reproduction. ![]() Angiosperms – seed plants with flowersĪngiosperms have flowers. Plants that hold their seeds in cones are called gymnosperms. Plants that have flowers are called angiosperms. They also have special names for these groups. Scientists divide seed plants into two main groups: plants with flowers and plants with cones. If the seed lands where the conditions are right, the embryo germinates and grows into a new plant. The parent plant disperses or releases the seed. The seed protects the embryo and stores food for it. After fertilisation, a tiny plant called an embryo is formed inside a seed. Seed plants have special structures on them where male and female cells join together through a process called fertilisation. ![]()
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