1. Lesson 31 How are seeds dispersed?

2. Did you ever hear someone say, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”? What does it mean?

3. Sometimes, the seeds of parent plants don’t fall far from the parent plant. Can you imagine what would happen if all seeds dropped next to the parent plants?

5. Too many plants in one place means that there is not enough soil, water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight to keep the plants healthy.

6. Seed-spreading is needed for plants to survive. Seed- spreading is called seed dispersal. There are 4 major ways that seeds disperse.

7. Wind What do all of these seeds have in common?

9. Some plants have fruits that are very light weight, and are shaped for being carried by the wind.

10. Animals Many animals eat fruits seeds and all. What happens to the seeds? Digestion does not harm seeds. They come out of the bodies of the animals with the fecal matter.

11. Bears love berries. They swallow the whole fruit. They don’t hang around in the same place day after day, right?

12. The seeds the bear ate a day or so ago will be deposited in a different area than where they were eaten. The seeds get covered with dirt and the next season, you have a new berry bush, no where near the parent bush.

13. Some seeds have sticky parts, like the cocklebur A dog walks by and bumps into the cocklebur.

14. Eventually, they will fall off, far from where the dog got them!

15. Some animals, like squirrels, carry seeds off and bury them for winter. What happens to the seeds that the squirrel forgets about?

16. Explosive Parts The ovaries of some seeds, like the poppy and pea, “explode” when they mature. They can land as far as 18 feet from the parent plant.