Sex-different response in growth traits to resource heterogeneity explains male-biased sex ratio |
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| Institution: | 1. Núcleo de Ciências Agrárias e Desenvolvimento Rural, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil;2. Núcleo de Ecologia de Insetos, Hexapoda, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil;3. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil;4. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil;1. School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits, 2050, South Africa;2. Department of Environmental Science, Bindura University of Science Education, Private Bag 1020, Bindura, Zimbabwe;3. Department of Forest Resources and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Applied Sciences, National University of Science & Technology, P.O. Box AC 939 Ascot, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe;4. Forest Ecology Laboratory, Faculty of Applied Sciences, National University of Science & Technology, P.O. Box AC 939 Ascot, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe;1. Geological-Paleontological Department, Natural History Museum Vienna, Burgring 7, AT-1010 Wien, Austria;2. University Museum of Bergen, PO Box 7800, NO-5020 Bergen, Norway;3. Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, Knossos Avenue, GR-71409 Heraklion, Crete, Greece;1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, PR China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China;3. Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, PR China;4. State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, and College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi 530004, PR China;1. Departamento de Ciências Naturais, Herbário FURB, Universidade Regional de Blumenau – FURB, Rua Antônio da Veiga, 140, Bairro Victor Konder, 89012-900, Blumenau, SC, Brazil;2. Embrapa Florestas, Estrada da Ribeira, km 111, 83411-000, Colombo, PR, Brazil;3. Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Laboratório de Ecologia Teórica e Síntese, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Campus Samambaia, Caixa Postal 131, 74690-900, Goiânia, GO, Brazil;4. Departamento de Engenharia Florestal, Universidade Regional de Blumenau – FURB, Rua São Paulo, 3250, 89030-000, Blumenau, SC, Brazil |
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| Abstract: | In dioecious plants, differences in growth traits between sexes in a response to micro-environmental heterogeneity may affect sex ratio bias and spatial distributions. Here, we examined sex ratios, stem growth traits and spatial distribution patterns in the dioecious clonal shrub Aucuba japonica var. borealis, in stands with varying light intensities. We found that male stems were significantly more decumbent (lower height/length ratio) but female stems were upright (higher height/length ratio). Moreover, we found sex-different response in stem density (no. of stems per unit area) along a light intensity gradient; in males the stem density increased with increases in canopy openness, but not in females. The higher sensitivity of males in increasing stem density to light intensity correlated with male-biased sex ratio; fine-scale sex ratio was strongly male-biased as canopy openness increased. There were also differences between sexes in spatial distributions of stems. Spatial segregation of sexes and male patches occupying larger areas than female patches might result from vigorous growth of males under well-lit environments. In summary, females and males showed different growth responses to environmental variation, and this seemed to be one of possible causes for the sex-differential spatial distributions and locally biased sex ratios. |
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| Keywords: | Clonal growth Dioecy Gap dynamics Resource foraging Sexual dimorphism Spatial segregation |
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