How does seed dispersal happen in the tropical rainforest?

Plants generally want their seed dispersal to be far and away from themselves.

This distance is called the plants ‘seed shadow’. The longer this shadow, the less the parent has to compete with its own growing young.

As with pollination, plants have evolved various methods (‘vectors’) to spread their seed, including animal agents, wind and water.

As in flowers, the most successful agent used determines the characteristics of the seed and fruit.

The lack of colourful and showy flowers in the tropical rainforest of Australia is somewhat made up for by the spectacular fruit. There is a huge range of different colours and forms of fruit that can be found lying around on the rainforest floor.

Seed dispersal by animals

In the rainforests of Queensland, the percentage of plants with fleshy fruits has been recorded at about 85%

This diversity of fleshy fruits is mirrored with the diversity of fruit eaters.

For while there are no specialized fruit eating birds in the whole of the northern temperate region of the Earth, the tropical rainforests of Asia, the Americas and Australasia are rich in such species.

Animals whose diet is made up mainly of fruit are known as ‘frugivores’.

Animal spread fruits advertise, just as flowers do, with various cues such as colours and smells.

They reward the animal with a fleshy edible package of water, carbohydrates and/or fats.

for much more on seed dispersal, refer to the book "Rainforest of tropical Australia"