As you know, in plants that bear fruit, the seeds of the plant are contained in the fruit. And so in order for a plant to reproduce in new areas, its fruit needs to be distributed to new areas. Okay, now certain kinds of fruits have special physical features that enable them to be transported away from the parent plant, in order for the parent seeds to be distributed to new locations. So, let’s look at a couple of features that fruits can have that help them to transport seeds to new locations. Some types of fruit have a feature that causes them to stick to animal fur - so when an animal comes into contact with the fruit - the fruit attaches itself to the animals’ fur, then the animal walks on - and eventually the fruit gets deposited in some new location. For example, there’s a plant called the Burdock. The fruit of the Burdock plant has a little hook-like feature that helps it hook onto and stick to the fur of passing animals. Until it eventually falls off at some new location. Thus helping to spread the seeds of the burdock plant. Okay, and other types of fruit have a feature that enables the fruit to float in water - so if the fruit falls into the water, the water can transport the fruit to a new location. A good example: a coconut, which are the fruit of the coconut palm tree, which often grow near the ocean. Coconuts have a thick wooden covering, so the coconut can float through water. So when coconuts fall off a palm tree, they can float away in the ocean, which helps disperse the palm trees seeds sometimes hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
Using the examples from the lecture, explain how the special features of the fruits help plants transport seeds to new location.
