Hydrochory

Walking the paths today, the wind was quite strong and the air was full of helicopters, mostly maple seeds being carried long distances from their parent trees. Arriving at the Salt Fork, it was clear that the wind was not the only thing dispersing these seeds. The surface of the river was covered with them, as shown with a sample in the inset, probably a silver maple seed. This is a reminder that hydrochory, the dispersal of seeds by water, is an important transport mechanism for riparian plants. Rivers and their tributaries can carry the seeds long distances and through broad changes in latitude, and downstream floods can deposit the seeds at some distance from the riparian corridor. Such dispersal can help maintain connections between isolated communities of plants as well as support plant diversity along the corridor.