Dispersal, the movement of seeds or diaspores away from the
parent plant, is a key life-history stage in plants. Persistence,
migration and seedling recruitment are all affected by seed dispersal
distances (Howe & Smallwood 1982; Hyatt et al. 2003;
Levin et al. 2003). There are correlations between most lifehistory
traits (Wright et al. 2004; Moles & Leishman 2008),
and some traits may affect species’ dispersal distances (MullerLandau
et al. 2008). Understanding how species’ traits are
related to dispersal distance is crucial for understanding the
evolution and ecology of plant dispersal systems. However,
there is limited information about how life-history traits and
dispersal distance are correlated. Plant species may modify
particular traits to enhance dispersal or conversely trade off