ECOLOGICAL CORRELATES WITH DIOECY IN THE FLORA OF A TROPICAL PREMONTANE WET FOREST IN COSTA RICA

Historically, selection to enforce outcrossing has been the primary explanation for the evolution of dioecy. In contrast, many scientist argue that the selection of dioecy is driven by ecological traits that influence male/female fitness and seed dispersal. The objective of this study was to examine...

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Veröffentlicht in:The Ohio journal of science 2018-04, Vol.118 (1), p.A33-A34
Hauptverfasser: Held, Breanne L, Lehman, Jeffrey S
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Historically, selection to enforce outcrossing has been the primary explanation for the evolution of dioecy. In contrast, many scientist argue that the selection of dioecy is driven by ecological traits that influence male/female fitness and seed dispersal. The objective of this study was to examine the association between plant sexual system with various ecological traits for the flora of a tropical wet forest in Costa Rica. This study included 313 angiosperm species in 216 genera and 83 families that were characterized for sexual system, growth form, flower size, fruit type, and seed number. Fisher's exact tests were conducted to determine the relationship between each of the ecological characteristics and sexual systems. The null hypothesis for all comparisons is that the proportionate representation of hermaphroditic, monoecious, or dioecious species in the various categories is not significantly different from the distribution of species for the entire flora. Of the total 313 species, 229 (73.2%) were hermaphroditic, 41 (13.1%) were monoecious, and 43 (13.7%) were dioecious. In analyses of species, dio- ecy was associated with woody growth (X2 = 8.53; P = 0.03); tiny flower size (X2 = 7.37; P = 0.04), few seeds (X2 = 13.82; P < 0.001), and fleshy fruit (X2 = 9.18; P = 0.003). Results agree with those of other published works and suggest that dioecy is heavily driven by 1) woody growth (i.e., long-lived, perennial growth), 2) flower size (i.e., tiny, inconspicuous, flowers pollinated by generalized pollinators), 3) fruit and seed characteristics (i.e., fleshy, single-seeded fruits dispersed by specialized frugivores).
ISSN:0030-0950
2471-9390