11. Fruits & Seed

Many flowering plants enclose their seeds in brightly colored fleshy fruits. The functions of a fruit it to be eaten, so that the enclosed seeds can be dispersed. Just as showy flowers attract animals for pollination, fruits attract animals for seed dispersal.

Fruit-Consuming Birds | The Cove Forest

Episode 1

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Animals that feed on fruit are frugivores. The most common frugivores are birds. Birds readily remove large numbers of ripe fruits from plants, and intact seeds generally pass through a bird's...

White Baneberry or Doll's Eyes Fruit | The Cove Forest

Episode 2

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Fruits eaten by animals are not necessarily edible for humans. Since fruits of some plants are poisonous (for humans), you should never eat fruits of wild plants unless you are absolutely certain they...

Leafy Stem with Abundant Acorns | The Cove Forest

Episode 3

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

The fruits produced by oaks (acorns) are an extremely important food source for mammals, such as squirrels, deer and black bear. Because acorns are rich in carbohydrates and proteins, populations of...

Squirrel with Acorns | The Cove Forest

Episode 4

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

In late summer and fall, squirrels collect and bury large numbers of newly ripened acorns. Many of these acorns are later recovered and eaten. Others, however, go undiscovered and can germinate and...

Close-Up of Seed with Food Body Attached | The Cove Forest

Episode 5

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Herbaceous plants of cove forests, such as violets, trilliums and bloodroots (as well as many others), have ant-dispersed seeds. Such seeds have a small lipid-rich food body attached to the seed. Ants...