Fruit was disappearing from a parasitic plant in southern Japan, sometimes nearly an entire plant's worth overnight. Ants ...

In a recent study published in Journal of Ecology, researchers have shown that seed-handling ability had the biggest effect on a disperser's importance. It had strong effects on three network metrics ...

Seed dispersal through wind, water or animals is a crucial process for forest renewal and biodiversity preservation. In the ...

Balanophora fungosa has dull colors, a yeasty scent and easily detachable fruits, so Kobe University botanist Suetsugu Kenji suspected the dispersers to be ants. But when he covered the plants with ...

When we think about how forests grow and regrow, we often think about colorful birds carrying berries or monkeys dropping ...

Seed dispersal is fundamental to the structure and resilience of tropical forests, underpinning regeneration, gene flow and ecosystem function. In these ecosystems, more than two thirds of woody plant ...

The world’s tropical forests are threatened by deforestation due to agricultural, industrial and urban expansion; as well as by drought, fire, and disease, all worsened by climate change. Human ...

Jan. 13 (UPI) --As ecosystems warm or dry out because of climate change, plants and animals are being forced to move in search of friendly conditions. Animals can swim, scamper and fly, but plants are ...

The apple might not fall far from the tree, but new research shows that how it falls might be what is most important in determining tree distribution across a forest. This study of the seed dispersal ...

If you liked this story, share it with other people. Without seed dispersal plants could not survive. Seed dispersal—i.e. birds spreading seeds or wind carrying seeds—means the mechanism by which a ...

Walking through the last rainforests on the volcanic island of Mauritius, located some 800 km east of Madagascar, one is surrounded by ghosts. Since human colonization in the 17th century, the island ...