-chore, -choric, -chorous, -chory

The dispersal of plants or seeds through the agency of ants with the employment of attractive seed appendages and chemicals by plants that induce the ants to transport the seeds without harming the embryo or endosperm of the plant (the tissue that surrounds the embryo inside a plant seed and provides nourishment for it).

Harvesting ants do not manage to carry all the seeds they collect back to their nests, and they do not eat all of the seeds stored in their granaries.

The result is that ants are a major and fortuitous dispersal agent for plants. They are especially effective in deserts and grasslands, but many species, not necessarily specialized harvesters, play some role even in tropical forests.

The distribution of plumed (bearded) seeds or fruits by wind.

Distribution with more than one agent; such as, fruit from the same plant that is adapted to wind and animals.

Wind distribution of winged seeds or fruits.

Plants that are distributed through the agency of reptiles; such as, lizards, snakes, etc.

The distribution of minute (tiny) seeds, fruit, or spores by wind.

1. Having a narrow range of distribution.
2. A plant that has a restricted distribution.

Dispersal by a subgroup of similar biotopes (environmental conditions suitable for certain fauna and flora) in a specific geographical habitat; a subdivided habitat.

Dispersal by several groups of biotopes or several fauna and flora habitats collectively.

1. Dispersal through the intentional burying or storing of seeds or fruits by animals.
2. The conditoin of an organism that is dispersed through the agency of several animals.

The region of the earth's surface covered by dry desert.

1. The dispersal of fruit or seeds by animals; such as, birds, bats, monkeys, and any animal that eats fruits, seeds, etc.
2. Distribution of plants or seeds by the agency of living animals.

It is well known that many plant species have seeds that are capable of dispersing over long distances, borne on the wind or carried in the gut of migrating birds or on the hides of migrating mammals.

• Extremely long seed dispersal distances occur as a result of several processes; such as, ocean drift and tornadoes.
• Large numbers of seeds with different morphologies are frequently dispersed equivalent distances while attached to migrating ungulates.
• Seeds attached to the fleece of traditional nomadic, or transhumant, sheep are transported distances of up to several hundred kilometers in substantial numbers.
• Ecologists have long been frustrated by the logistical problems of gathering hard data on such dispersal and of performing useful experiments to verify their assumptions.
• Marked seeds of several common animal-dispersed (zoochory) herbaceous species were pressed onto the fleece of sheep as they passed through central Spain, and seeds still adhering to the animals were counted at regular intervals on the journey south.
• Retention patterns varied for different species:

• After 28 days and 400 km, five percent of Plantago lagopus (plantain) were still attached to the sheep.
• Fourty-seven percent of Trifolium angustifolium (clover) seeds were still attached to the sheep.

These were the longest dispersal distances recorded for these species, by two orders of magnitude, and confirm the potential for migrating ungulates to facilitate plant dispersals.