Seed dispersal is the movement or transport of
seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have very limited mobility and consequently rely upon a variety of
dispersal vectors to transport their propagules, including both
abiotic and
biotic vectors. Seeds can be dispersed away from the parent plant individually or collectively, as well as dispersed in both space and time. The patterns of seed dispersal are determined in large part by the dispersal mechanism and this has important implications for the demographic and genetic structure of plant populations, as well as patterns and species interactions. There are five main modes of seed dispersal:
gravity, wind, ballistic, water, and by animals. Some plants are
serotinous and only disperse their seeds in response to an environmental stimulus.