Can dispersal investment explain why tall plant species achieve longer dispersal distances than short plant species?

Tall plant species disperse further distances than do short species, within and across dispersal syndromes, yet the driver underpinning this relationship is unclear. The ability of taller plants to invest more in dispersal structures may explain the positive relationship between plant height and dis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The New phytologist 2018-01, Vol.217 (1), p.407-415
Main Authors: Thomson, Fiona J., Letten, Andrew D., Tamme, Riin, Edwards, Will, Moles, Angela T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
diaspore
Dispersal
dispersal distance
dispersal investment
dispersal structure mass
Dispersion
Distance
Flowers & plants
Height
Herbivores
Investment
Phenotype
plant height
Plant species
plant traits
Plants
Probability theory
Seed Dispersal
seed mass
Seeds
Seeds - physiology
Species
Structures
Symptoms
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Summary:Tall plant species disperse further distances than do short species, within and across dispersal syndromes, yet the driver underpinning this relationship is unclear. The ability of taller plants to invest more in dispersal structures may explain the positive relationship between plant height and dispersal distance. Here, we quantify the cross-species relationships between presence of dispersal structures, dispersal investment plant height and dispersal distance. Plant height, dispersal syndrome and dispersal investment data were collated for 1613 species from the literature, with dispersal distance data collated for 114 species. We find that species with high dispersal investment disperse further than do species with low dispersal investment. Tall species have a greater probability of having dispersal structures on their seeds compared with short species. For species with dispersal structures on their seeds, plant height is very weakly related to dispersal investment. Our results provide the first global confirmation of the dispersal investment–distance hypothesis, and show dispersal investment can be used for predicting species dispersal distances. However, our results and those of previous studies indicate plant height is still the best proxy for estimating species dispersal distances due to it being such a readily available plant trait.
ISSN:0028-646X
1469-8137
DOI:10.1111/nph.14735