Biomechanical analysis reveals that descent velocity scales with mass in asymmetric winged seeds, indicating a trade-off between seed size and dispersal capacity.
Is there necessarily a trade-off between seed size (mass) and dispersal capacity for wind-dispersed diaspores? Within three families (Pinaceae, Aceraceae, and Leguminosae) with asymmetric samaras, shape is maintained (isometry) despite size change. Consequently, within these three families, equilibrium descent velocity is proportional to samara mass raised to the 1/6 power and, necessarily, larger samaras are more poorly dispersed
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Greene et al. (1993) studied this question.
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