Pollination and Dispersal

1. Pollination and Dispersal • Form and Function

2. Pollination • Pollination is how gymnosperms (cone-bearing seed plants) and angiosperms (flowering plants) carry out sexual reproduction. • Pollen carries the male sex cells from one plant to the next, allowing plants to cross with other plants far away. • A vector is a means of moving pollen from plant to plant. Vectors may be wind or animals.

3. Wind Pollination • All gymnosperms are wind-pollinated. • Flowering plants that are wind-pollinated have flowers that lack showy petals. • Anthers and stigma are often long and sticky or feathery.

4. Bee Pollination • Honeybees seek nectar and pollen. • Bees can see ultraviolet, and home in on flowers that are blue, purple, or have UV markings. They have well-developed sense of smell. • Bees prefer flat platform-shaped flowers or large, open tubes.

5. Hummingbird Pollination • Hummingbirds seek nectar - LOTS of nectar. • Hummingbirds don’t have a good sense of smell. They see orange and red the best. • Hummingbirds sip from pendulous tube-shaped flowers that other nectar-feeders can’t access.

6. Butterfly Pollination • Butterflies seek nectar. • Butterflies are attracted to platform-shaped flowers or clusters of very small, upright, tubular flowers. • Butterflies have a keen sense of smell, and can see orange, yellow, blues, and purples.

7. Moth Pollination • Moths seek nectar. • Moths have a well-developed sense of smell. • Moths are attracted to highly-scented, tubular, bright white flowers.

8. Who is the Pollinator?

9. Scarlet Gilia Unscented, nectar-rich

10. Moonflower Evening-blooming, highly scented

11. Aster Nectar and pollen rich

12. Ceanothus Pollen rich

13. Nicotiana Evening-blooming, highly scented

14. Fuchsia Unscented, nectar-rich

15. Borage Good pollen and nectar source

16. Echniacea Abundant pollen, good nectar source

17. Asclepias Good source of nectar and pollen

18. Foxglove Good nectar and pollen source

19. Yucca Scented, nectar-rich

20. Buddleia Highly-scented, nectar rich

21. Agastache Nectar-rich

22. Liatris Good source of nectar and pollen

23. Rudbeckia Abundant pollen, good nectar source

24. Fruit Dispersal

25. Dispersal • Once a fruit and seeds have formed, it’s essential for the seed to be moved away from the parent plant to avoid competition. • As with pollination, seed dispersal involves many different vectors. • Adaptations that we see on fruits and seeds helps tell us what the dispersal vector is.

26. Ballistic dispersal • Some plants disperse their seeds themselves. • Explosive dry fruits that shatter on contact or when shaken throw seeds far from the parent plant. Some fruits use build up hydraulic pressure until they burst. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfMbw9v1e40

27. Wind dispersal • Lightweight dry fruits with wings, parachutes, and similar wind-catching structures can be blown away from the parent plant.

28. Water dispersal • Hollow, water-resistant fruits can be dispersed long distances by moving water.

29. Animal dispersal • Two types of fruits are animal dispersed: • Fruits that can cling to fur. • Edible fruits whose seeds can go through a digestive system, or may get discarded when the animal eats.

30. How is it dispersed?

31. Mangrove Hollow, floating fruits. This tree grows in salt water swamps.

32. Cherry Fleshy, sweet-tasting fruit with a hard pit.

33. Thistle Small, dry fruits have long feathery threads extending from them.

34. Bedstraw Fruits are small, sticky, with small barbs.

35. Squirting Cucumber Pressure builds inside of the fruit until it finally pops off of the stem. Juices with slippery seeds squirt out.

36. Seed Dispersal Video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQ1jWl3AOM