In order to ensure that their seeds spread, plants have ways of helping them get to other places. If they did not spread seeds, the new plants would compete for water and sunlight and fail to grow. Fruits play a role in helping seeds disperse.

Function

Fruits' fragrances, colors and shapes attract animals to eat them, and the seeds are carried away after they are eaten, often deposited in the animal's droppings miles away from the parent plant. Sometimes seeds germinate better after passing through the digestive tract.

Significance

Animals play a crucial role in using fruits for dispersal. They have a symbiotic relationship: the animal gets nutrients, sugars and vitamins from the fruits it eats, and the plant gets it seeds spread far and wide.

Types

Rainforest monkeys will pluck large figs and other fruits, eating some and tossing others on the ground. Squirrels will hoard fruits and nuts in a cache in a hollow tree, then forget about them. Animals spread seeds in a variety of ways.

Adaptation

Fruits can adapt their traits to attract certain types of animals that act as good dispersers. They can secrete toxins that animals can only tolerate up to a certain level, at which point they will stop eating the fruit and travel on.

Fun Fact

Some one-seeded fruits, called achenes, nutlets or samaras, have feathery outgrowths that are designed to catch the wind and travel many miles by air.

Source:

Behave: Seed Dispersal

The Seed Site: Dispersal of Seeds by Animals

Wayne's Word: Blowing in the Wind

More Information:

Maricopa: Flowering Plant Reproduction