The Mysterious Mobility Of Rooted Plants

Sunday, December 7, 2008 - 12:35 in Biology & Nature

The wild pea pod is big and heavy, with seemingly little prayer of escaping the shade of its parent plant. And yet, like a grounded teenager who knows where the car keys are hidden, it manages – if it has a reasonable chance of escape. University of Florida researchers working at the world's largest experimental landscape devoted to wildlife corridors – greenways that link woods or other natural areas — have discovered the pea and similar species share, given a clear shot, a mysterious ability for mobility. Though their seeds are neither dispersed by birds nor borne by the wind, they are nevertheless far more likely to slalom down corridors than slog through woods. read more

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