Anna Nordseth is an ecology writer and Duke University Ph.D. candidate specializing in tropical forest ecology, conservation research, and biodiversity. Think plants can’t move? You’re only half right ...

They also note that other processes, such as pollination, seed predation, and competition influence seed dispersal and can constrain forest regrowth. Still, the findings were in line with recent ...

Knowing what causes dandelions to spread could help us understand how the plants respond to climate change, and could even help us design new "soft" robots. Known for their fluffiness and uncanny ...

Picture a mature, broad-branched tree like an oak, maple or fig. How does it reproduce so that its offspring don’t grow up in its shadow, fighting for light? The answer is seed dispersal. Plants have ...

In many terrestrial ecosystems, ants perform a crucial role in the secondary dispersal of seeds through a mutualism known as myrmecochory. Plants produce diaspores bearing elaiosomes—specialised lipid ...