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Li L, Barrett SCH, Song Z, Chen J. Sex-specific plasticity of reproductive allocation in response to water depth in a clonal, dioecious macrophyte. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2019; 106:42-50. [PMID: 30629301 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2018] [Accepted: 10/15/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE OF THE STUDY Sex-specific differences in reproductive investment contribute to sexual dimorphism in dioecious plants. Along environmental gradients, males and females may plastically adjust reproductive allocation differently because of contrasting reproductive costs. In dioecious macrophytes, variation in water depth is likely to influence reproductive allocation but has not been investigated in detail. METHODS Vallisneria spinulosa was grown in aquatic mesocosms at water depths of 50, 100 and 150 cm for 14 weeks. Plasticity in allocation was measured to investigate whether sexual dimorphism in reproductive allocation and vegetative growth changed in response to varying water depths. KEY RESULTS Females invested a higher fraction of resources to sexual reproduction than males across all water depths and decreased proportional allocation to sexual structures in shallow and deep water compared to intermediate water depth. In contrast, males maintained similar sexual allocation across all water depths. Females displayed larger vegetative size than males, despite greater sexual investment, but decreased vegetative biomass more than males in shallow or deep water. The sexes invested similarly in clonal propagation by tubers at all water depths, but a trade-off with sexual reproduction was only evident in females. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that females of V. spinulosa have mechanisms to compensate for the costs of sexual reproduction in heterogeneous environments. Compared to males, females expressed greater plasticity in biomass allocated to sexual reproduction and vegetative growth in response to water depth variation. Environmental variation in underwater light availability probably caused the sex-specific allocation strategies found in V. spinulosa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Li
- Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecosystem Change and Biodiversity, Center for Watershed Ecology, Institute of Life Science and School of Life Sciences, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
- Key Laboratory of Poyang Lake Environment and Resource Utilization, Ministry of Education, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
- National Ecosystem Research Station of Jiangxi Poyang Lake Wetland, Nanchang, 330038, China
| | - Spencer C H Barrett
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3B2
| | - Zhiping Song
- The Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
| | - Jiakuan Chen
- Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Watershed Ecosystem Change and Biodiversity, Center for Watershed Ecology, Institute of Life Science and School of Life Sciences, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China
- The Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China
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Tedder A, Helling M, Pannell JR, Shimizu-Inatsugi R, Kawagoe T, van Campen J, Sese J, Shimizu KK. Female sterility associated with increased clonal propagation suggests a unique combination of androdioecy and asexual reproduction in populations of Cardamine amara (Brassicaceae). ANNALS OF BOTANY 2015; 115:763-76. [PMID: 25776435 PMCID: PMC4373288 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcv006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2014] [Revised: 09/29/2014] [Accepted: 12/23/2014] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS The coexistence of hermaphrodites and female-sterile individuals, or androdioecy, has been documented in only a handful of plants and animals. This study reports its existence in the plant species Cardamine amara (Brassicaceae), in which female-sterile individuals have shorter pistils than seed-producing hermaphrodites. METHODS Morphological analysis, in situ manual pollination, microsatellite genotyping and differential gene expression analysis using Arabidopsis microarrays were used to delimit variation between female-sterile individuals and hermaphrodites. KEY RESULTS Female sterility in C. amara appears to be caused by disrupted ovule development. It was associated with a 2.4- to 2.9-fold increase in clonal propagation. This made the pollen number of female-sterile genets more than double that of hermaphrodite genets, which fulfils a condition of co-existence predicted by simple androdioecy theories. When female-sterile individuals were observed in wild androdioecious populations, their ramet frequencies ranged from 5 to 54 %; however, their genet frequencies ranged from 11 to 29 %, which is consistent with the theoretically predicted upper limit of 50 %. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that a combination of sexual reproduction and increased asexual proliferation by female-sterile individuals probably explains the invasion and maintenance of female sterility in otherwise hermaphroditic populations. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the coexistence of female sterility and hermaphrodites in the Brassicaceae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Tedder
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies and Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Switzerland, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland, Center for Ecological Research (CER), Kyoto University, 2-509-3, Hirano, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan and Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0064, Japan
| | - Matthias Helling
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies and Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Switzerland, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland, Center for Ecological Research (CER), Kyoto University, 2-509-3, Hirano, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan and Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0064, Japan
| | - John R Pannell
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies and Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Switzerland, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland, Center for Ecological Research (CER), Kyoto University, 2-509-3, Hirano, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan and Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0064, Japan
| | - Rie Shimizu-Inatsugi
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies and Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Switzerland, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland, Center for Ecological Research (CER), Kyoto University, 2-509-3, Hirano, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan and Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0064, Japan
| | - Tetsuhiro Kawagoe
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies and Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Switzerland, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland, Center for Ecological Research (CER), Kyoto University, 2-509-3, Hirano, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan and Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0064, Japan Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies and Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Switzerland, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland, Center for Ecological Research (CER), Kyoto University, 2-509-3, Hirano, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan and Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0064, Japan
| | - Julia van Campen
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies and Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Switzerland, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland, Center for Ecological Research (CER), Kyoto University, 2-509-3, Hirano, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan and Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0064, Japan
| | - Jun Sese
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies and Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Switzerland, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland, Center for Ecological Research (CER), Kyoto University, 2-509-3, Hirano, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan and Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0064, Japan
| | - Kentaro K Shimizu
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies and Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Switzerland, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne CH-1015, Switzerland, Center for Ecological Research (CER), Kyoto University, 2-509-3, Hirano, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan and Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0064, Japan
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Matsuo A, Tomimatsu H, Suzuki JI, Saitoh T, Shibata S, Makita A, Suyama Y. Female and male fitness consequences of clonal growth in a dwarf bamboo population with a high degree of clonal intermingling. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2014; 114:1035-1041. [PMID: 25228034 PMCID: PMC4171080 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcu176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2014] [Accepted: 07/08/2014] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Although many studies have reported that clonal growth interferes with sexual reproduction as a result of geitonogamous self-pollination and inbreeding depression, the mating costs of clonal growth are expected to be reduced when genets are spatially intermingled with others. This study examined how clonal growth affects both female and male reproductive success by studying a population of a mass-flowering plant, Sasa veitchii var. hirsuta, with a high degree of clonal intermingling. METHODS In a 10 × 10 m plot, genets were discriminated based on the multilocus genotypes of 11 nuclear microsatellite loci. The relationships between genet size and the components of reproductive success were then investigated. Male siring success and female and male selfing rates were assessed using paternity analysis. KEY RESULTS A total of 111 genets were spatially well intermingled with others. In contrast to previous studies with species forming distinct monoclonal patches, seed production linearly increased with genet size. While male siring success was a decelerating function of genet size, selfing rates were relatively low and not related to genet size. CONCLUSIONS The results, in conjunction with previous studies, emphasize the role of the spatial arrangement of genets on both the quantity and quality of offpsring, and suggest that an intermingled distribution of genets can reduce the mating costs of clonal growth and enhance overall fitness, particularly female fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayumi Matsuo
- Field Science Center, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Osaki, Miyagi 989-6711, Japan Faculty of Bioresource Sciences, Akita Prefectural University, Akita 010-0195, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Tomimatsu
- Department of Biology, Yamagata University, Yamagata 990-8560, Japan
| | - Jun-Ichirou Suzuki
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan
| | - Tomoyuki Saitoh
- Tohoku Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Morioka 020-0123, Japan
| | - Shozo Shibata
- Field Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Akifumi Makita
- Faculty of Bioresource Sciences, Akita Prefectural University, Akita 010-0195, Japan
| | - Yoshihisa Suyama
- Field Science Center, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Osaki, Miyagi 989-6711, Japan
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Van Drunen WE, Dorken ME. Trade-offs between clonal and sexual reproduction in Sagittaria latifolia (Alismataceae) scale up to affect the fitness of entire clones. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2012; 196:606-616. [PMID: 22897332 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04260.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Many plants combine sexual reproduction with vegetative propagation, but how trade-offs between these reproductive modes affect fitness is poorly understood. Although such trade-offs have been demonstrated at the level of individual shoots (ramets), there is little evidence that they scale up to affect genet fitness. For hermaphrodites, reproductive investment is further divided between female and male sexual functions. Female function should generally incur greater carbon costs than male function, which might involve greater nitrogen (N) costs. Using a common garden experiment with diclinous, clonal Sagittaria latifolia we manipulated investment in reproduction through female and male sex functions of 412 plants from monoecious and dioecious populations. We detected a 1:1 trade-off between biomass investment in female function and clonal reproduction. For male function, there was no apparent trade-off between clonal and sexual reproduction in terms of biomass investment. Instead, male function incurred a substantially higher N cost. Our results indicate that: trade-offs between investment in clonal propagation and sexual reproduction occur at the genet level in S. latifolia; and sexual reproduction interferes with clonal expansion, with investment in female function limiting the quantity of clonal propagules produced, and investment in male function limiting the nutrient content of clonal propagules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wendy E Van Drunen
- Department of Biology, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada
| | - Marcel E Dorken
- Department of Biology, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada
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Perry LE, Dorken ME. The evolution of males: support for predictions from sex allocation theory using mating arrays of sagittaria latifolia (alismataceae). Evolution 2011; 65:2782-91. [PMID: 21967421 DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01344.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Investment in male function should often yield diminishing fitness returns, subjecting the evolution of male phenotypes to substantial constraints. In plants, the subdivision of male function via the gradual presentation of pollen might minimize these constraints by preventing the saturation of receptive stigmas. Here, we report on an investigation of (1) patterns of investment in male function by plants in hermaphroditic (monoecious) and dioecious populations of Sagittaria latifolia, and (2) patterns of siring success by males versus hermaphrodites in experimental mating arrays. We show that in natural populations, males from dioecious populations had greater investment in male function than hermaphrodites in monoecious populations. However, as a proportion of total flower production, males presented substantially fewer flowers at once than hermaphrodites. In comparison with hermaphrodites, therefore, males prolonged the period over which they presented pollen. In mating arrays comprised of females, males, and hermaphrodites, siring success by males increased linearly with flower production. This finding is consistent with the existence of a linear gain curve for male function in S. latifolia and supports the idea that the gradual deployment of male function enables plants to avoid diminishing returns on the investment in male function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura E Perry
- Department of Biology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada.
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