Glossary

dispersal

Dispersal (dih-spúr-sul) is the process by which seeds move away from the plant that produced them.

Dispersal increases the chances of seedling survival by reducing competition for light, water, and nutrients near the parent plant and by allowing seedlings to establish in new locations.

Seeds can be dispersed by wind, water, gravity, animals, or insects—each method shaping where a plant takes root and how it spreads across a landscape.

In the Santa Cruz Mountains, examples include wind-blown seeds from Mountain Sweet Cicely (Osmorhiza berteroi), berries eaten and spread by animals from Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), and seeds carried by ants from Wild Ginger (Asarum caudatum).

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