What “intelligence” or force forces a tree to produce flying seeds so that they move away from the origin?
In: Biology
No intelligence or force. Trees that dispersed their seeds over a larger space in a certain environment were more successful passing on their genes than the ones that didn’t. Maybe the ones with seeds in a small area just all burned in the next forest fire. Or predators just waited under the tree and ate all the seeds before they could grow into plants. Or a disease spread easily from one to another when they were densely packed.
Are you asking us to explain evolution?
Helicopter seeds, floating seeds, parachute seeds, super tiny seeds, exploding seed pods, delicious but indigestible seeds, sticky seeds…. all successfully dispersed and survived and multiplied. Gargantuan seeds, sinking seeds, fragile seeds, dissolving seeds, kamikaze seeds, unbreakable seeds…. did not do as well. It’s all just random trial and error.
Latest Answers