Exhibition Unveils Secrets of Plant Migration

The "Plant Life: Fruits and Seeds Settlement" exhibition has opened in Arkhangelsk. This permanent display focuses on plant propagation and evolution, coinciding with the 190th anniversary of Charles Darwin's return from his Beagle expedition. The exhibition is based on the groundbreaking theories of Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who first studied how seeds and fruits disperse across oceanic barriers.

The exhibition is structured into four sections, illustrating various dispersal methods: oceanic drift, air transport, dispersal via animal digestive tracts, and combined strategies. It prominently features 49 plant species from 21 families, with samples collected by scientists from eleven countries including Venezuela, Madagascar, and Indonesia.

Detailed examples show diverse strategies, from the robust coconut and barringtonia adapted for marine drift to small, buoyant seeds of the marine hibiscus. Other plants utilize gliding seeds, helicopter-like fruits for wind dispersal, or explosive mechanisms to scatter seeds, like the royal delonyx. Some species, such as the abrus precatorius, rely on birds for long-distance dispersal, despite their toxicity.