Size-dependent sex allocation and reproductive investment in a gynodioecious shrub
| Autor: | Akari Shibata, Gaku Kudo |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
media_common.quotation_subject Population Zoology resource allocation Plant Science Gynodioecy Biology size-dependency 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Hermaphrodite Botany gynodioecy education Sex allocation media_common education.field_of_study Cost of reproduction fungi food and beverages Photosynthetic capacity Sexual dimorphism pollen limitation Editor's Choice Natural population growth sexual dimorphism flower production Reproduction fruit set 010606 plant biology & botany Research Article |
| Zdroj: | AoB Plants |
| ISSN: | 2041-2851 |
| Popis: | Gynodioecy is a mating system where both hermaphrodite (pollen and seed producer) and female plants (seed producer) coexist within a population. We compared size-dependent sex allocation between hermaphrodites and females in a gynodioecious shrub, Daphne jezoensis. Hermaphrodites produced more flowers with size increment than females, while females produced 3.7 times more fruits than hermaphrodites. Despite the sexual difference in sex allocation, total reproductive investment did not differ between the sex morphs because of low pollination success. Severe pollen limitation under natural conditions resulted in the balanced resource investment in reproduction between the sex morphs in this species. In sexually dimorphic plants, resource allocation to reproduction often differs between sex morphs. In gynodioecious species, i.e. coexisting hermaphrodite and female plants within a population, females often produce more fruits than hermaphrodites. Since fruit production is costlier than flower production, hermaphrodites and females may regulate flower and fruit production differently in response to resource availability. To clarify the gender-specific strategies of reproductive allocation, we assessed sexual dimorphism in reproductive traits, size-dependent resource allocation, morphological traits, and photosynthetic capacity in a natural population of a gynodioecious shrub, Daphne jezoensis. Hermaphrodites had larger flowers and increased flower number with plant size at a rate greater than females, but showed consistently smaller fruit production. Although females did not increase flower production as much as hermaphrodites did as their size increased, they produced 3.7 times more fruits than did hermaphrodites. Despite a large sexual difference in fruiting ability based on hand-pollination, total resource investment in reproduction (the sum of flower and fruit mass) was similar between sex morphs across plant sizes, and there was a little sexual difference in the cost of reproduction, i.e. the negative effect of current reproduction on future reproductive effort, in the natural population. In addition, there were no sexual differences in the resource allocation to vegetative organs (leaf and root mass) and photosynthetic capacity (light response photosynthetic rates). Under natural conditions, pollen limitation strongly restricted the fruit production of females, resulting in similar cost of reproduction between hermaphrodites and females. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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