For plants, the dispersal of seeds is a critical life-history process both from the perspective of an individual plant and for the dynamics of the entire population. Spread rate of a population, its ability to colonize new habitats and its spatial genetic diversity all depend on how far seeds can disperse and at which frequencies. For many species the primary dispersal mechanism is wind, so that micrometerological processes are tightly linked to the dynamics and viability of wind dispersed plants. For decades, plant ecologists have attented to develop medelling approaches to predict seed dispersal. The recently online-published review by Nathan et al. (2011) provides a through overview of the mechanisms of seed dispersal by wind and the model developments to describe and forecast this process. In addition to pure investigation of particle trasport, we also discuss wind dispersal from more biological and applied perspectives, including gene flow and plant responses to climate change.
Nathan R, Katul GG, Bohrer G, Kuparinen A, Soons MB, Thompson SE, Trakhtenbrot A, Horn HS (2011) Mechanistic models of seed dispersal by wind. Theoretical Ecology (in press)
