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Jhajhariya M, Mangla Y, Chandra A, Goel S, Tandon R. Variable resource allocation pattern, biased sex-ratio, and extent of sexual dimorphism in subdioecious Hippophae rhamnoides. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0302211. [PMID: 38635726 PMCID: PMC11025892 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Evolutionary maintenance of dioecy is a complex phenomenon and varies by species and underlying pathways. Also, different sexes may exhibit variable resource allocation (RA) patterns among the vegetative and reproductive functions. Such differences are reflected in the extent of sexual dimorphism. Though rarely pursued, investigation on plant species harbouring intermediate sexual phenotypes may reveal useful information on the strategy pertaining to sex-ratios and evolutionary pathways. We studied H. rhamnoides ssp. turkestanica, a subdioecious species with polygamomonoecious (PGM) plants, in western Himalaya. The species naturally inhabits a wide range of habitats ranging from river deltas to hill slopes. These attributes of the species are conducive to test the influence of abiotic factors on sexual dimorphism, and RA strategy among different sexes. The study demonstrates sexual dimorphism in vegetative and reproductive traits. The sexual dimorphism index, aligned the traits like height, number of branches, flower production, and dry-weight of flowers with males while others including fresh-weight of leaves, number of thorns, fruit production were significantly associated with females. The difference in RA pattern is more pronounced in reproductive traits of the male and female plants, while in the PGM plants the traits overlap. In general, habitat conditions did not influence either the extent of sexual dimorphism or RA pattern. However, it seems to influence secondary sex-ratio as females show their significant association with soil moisture. Our findings on sexual dimorphism and RA pattern supports attributes of wind-pollination in the species. The observed extent of sexual dimorphism in the species reiterates limited genomic differences among the sexes and the ongoing evolution of dioecy via monoecy in the species. The dynamics of RA in the species appears to be independent of resource availability in the habitats as the species grows in a resource-limited and extreme environment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yash Mangla
- Department of Botany, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India
| | - Atika Chandra
- Department of Botany, Maitreyi College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India
| | | | - Rajesh Tandon
- Department of Botany, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
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Dioecious hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) plants do not express significant sexually dimorphic morphology in the seedling stage. Sci Rep 2021; 11:16825. [PMID: 34413374 PMCID: PMC8376874 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-96311-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Some economically important crop species are dioecious, producing pollen and ovules on distinct, unisexual, individuals. On-the-spot diagnosis of sex is important to breeders and farmers for crop improvement and maximizing yield, yet diagnostic tools at the seedling stage are understudied and lack a scientific basis. Understanding sexual dimorphism in juvenile plants may provide key ecological, evolutionary and economic insights into dioecious plant species in addition to improving the process of crop cultivation. To address this gap in the literature, we asked: can we reliably differentiate males, females, and co-sexual individuals based on seedling morphology in Cannabis sativa, and do the traits used to distinguish sex at this stage vary between genotypes? To answer these questions, we collected data on phenotypic traits of 112 C. sativa plants (50 female, 52 male, 10 co-sexuals) from two hemp cultivars (CFX-1, CFX-2) during the second week of vegetative growth and used ANOVAs to compare morphology among sexes. We found males grew significantly longer hypocotyls than females by week 2, but this difference depended on the cultivar investigated. Preliminary evidence suggests that co-sexual plants may be distinguished from male and female plants using short hypocotyl length and seedling height, although this relationship requires more study since sample sizes of co-sexual plants were small. In one of the cultivars, two-week old male plants tend to produce longer hypocotyls than other plants, which may help to identify these plants prior to anthesis. We call for increased research effort on co-sexual plants, given their heavy economic cost in industrial contexts and rare mention in the literature. Our preliminary data suggests that short hypocotyl length may be an indicator of co-sexuality. These results are the first steps towards developing diagnostic tools for predicting sex using vegetative morphology in dioecious species and understanding how sexual dimorphism influences phenotype preceding sexual maturity.
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Vélez‐Mora D, Ramón P, Vallejo C, Romero A, Duncan D, Quintana‐Ascencio PF. Environmental drivers of femaleness of an inter‐Andean monoecious shrub. Biotropica 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.12839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Diego Vélez‐Mora
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja Loja Ecuador
- Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias, Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica Universidad Rey Juan Carlos Móstoles Madrid Spain
| | - Pablo Ramón
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja Loja Ecuador
| | - César Vallejo
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja Loja Ecuador
| | - Alex Romero
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja Loja Ecuador
| | - David Duncan
- School of BioSciences The University of Melbourne Melbourne Victoria Australia
| | - Pedro F. Quintana‐Ascencio
- Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja Loja Ecuador
- Department of Biology University of Central Florida Orlando FL USA
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White AE, Dikow RB, Baugh M, Jenkins A, Frandsen PB. Generating segmentation masks of herbarium specimens and a data set for training segmentation models using deep learning. APPLICATIONS IN PLANT SCIENCES 2020; 8:e11352. [PMID: 32626607 PMCID: PMC7328659 DOI: 10.1002/aps3.11352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2019] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE Digitized images of herbarium specimens are highly diverse with many potential sources of visual noise and bias. The systematic removal of noise and minimization of bias must be achieved in order to generate biological insights based on the plants rather than the digitization and mounting practices involved. Here, we develop a workflow and data set of high-resolution image masks to segment plant tissues in herbarium specimen images and remove background pixels using deep learning. METHODS AND RESULTS We generated 400 curated, high-resolution masks of ferns using a combination of automatic and manual tools for image manipulation. We used those images to train a U-Net-style deep learning model for image segmentation, achieving a final Sørensen-Dice coefficient of 0.96. The resulting model can automatically, efficiently, and accurately segment massive data sets of digitized herbarium specimens, particularly for ferns. CONCLUSIONS The application of deep learning in herbarium sciences requires transparent and systematic protocols for generating training data so that these labor-intensive resources can be generalized to other deep learning applications. Segmentation ground-truth masks are hard-won data, and we share these data and the model openly in the hopes of furthering model training and transfer learning opportunities for broader herbarium applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander E. White
- Data Science LabOffice of the Chief Information OfficerSmithsonian InstitutionWashingtonD.C.USA
- Department of BotanyNational Museum of Natural HistorySmithsonian InstitutionWashingtonD.C.USA
| | - Rebecca B. Dikow
- Data Science LabOffice of the Chief Information OfficerSmithsonian InstitutionWashingtonD.C.USA
| | - Makinnon Baugh
- Department of Plant and Wildlife SciencesBrigham Young UniversityProvoUtahUSA
| | - Abigail Jenkins
- Department of Plant and Wildlife SciencesBrigham Young UniversityProvoUtahUSA
| | - Paul B. Frandsen
- Data Science LabOffice of the Chief Information OfficerSmithsonian InstitutionWashingtonD.C.USA
- Department of Plant and Wildlife SciencesBrigham Young UniversityProvoUtahUSA
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Reply to Brian and Walker-Hale: Support for the island rule does not hide morphological disparity in insular plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:24931-24932. [PMID: 31772004 PMCID: PMC6911171 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1917767116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
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Yule KJ, Burns KC. Parasite-offspring competition for female resources can explain male-biased parasitism in plants. Biol Lett 2019; 15:20180761. [PMID: 30836880 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Male-biased susceptibility to parasites is common in dioecious plants. However, why males have higher parasite loads than females is unclear. Unlike males, females must subsidize post-fertilization costs of reproduction (e.g. seed and fruit development). As a result, females may have smaller pools of resources potentially available to parasites, thus leading to lower parasite loads. We tested this prediction in New Zealand's largest native moth ( Aenetus virescens: Lepidoptera), whose larvae parasitize Aristotelia serrata (Elaeocarpaceae), an endemic species of dioecious tree. We measured parasite loads in male and female trees, as well as annual seed set in females. We then derived a technique to equate the energetic cost of seed set in females to an equivalent number of parasitic larvae. Our results showed evidence for male-biased parasitism: male trees harboured more larval parasites than female trees. However, when parasite loads in males were compared with parasite loads in females, plus the energetic cost of seed production calculated as an equivalent number of parasitic larvae, differences in parasitism between the sexes disappeared. We conclude that male-biased parasitism in plants could arise from parasite-offspring (i.e. herbivore-seed) competition for female resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kirsty J Yule
- School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington , PO Box 600, Wellington 6012 , New Zealand
| | - Kevin C Burns
- School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington , PO Box 600, Wellington 6012 , New Zealand
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Daru BH, Bowman EA, Pfister DH, Arnold AE. A novel proof of concept for capturing the diversity of endophytic fungi preserved in herbarium specimens. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 374:20170395. [PMID: 30455213 PMCID: PMC6282087 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Herbarium specimens represent important records of morphological and genetic diversity of plants that inform questions relevant to global change, including species distributions, phenology and functional traits. It is increasingly appreciated that plant microbiomes can influence these aspects of plant biology, but little is known regarding the historic distribution of microbes associated with plants collected in the pre-molecular age. If microbiomes can be observed reliably in herbarium specimens, researchers will gain a new lens with which to examine microbial ecology, evolution, species interactions. Here, we describe a method for accessing historical plant microbiomes from preserved herbarium specimens, providing a proof of concept using two plant taxa from the imperiled boreal biome (Andromeda polifolia and Ledum palustre subsp. groenlandicum, Ericaceae). We focus on fungal endophytes, which occur within symptomless plant tissues such as leaves. Through a three-part approach (i.e. culturing, cloning and next-generation amplicon sequencing via the Illumina MiSeq platform, with extensive controls), we examined endophyte communities in dried, pressed leaves that had been processed as regular herbarium specimens and stored at room temperature in a herbarium for four years. We retrieved only one endophyte in culture, but cloning and especially the MiSeq analysis revealed a rich community of foliar endophytes. The phylogenetic distribution and diversity of endophyte assemblages, especially among the Ascomycota, resemble endophyte communities from fresh plants collected in the boreal biome. We could distinguish communities of endophytes in each plant species and differentiate likely endophytes from fungi that could be surface contaminants. Taxa found by cloning were observed in the larger MiSeq dataset, but species richness was greater when subsets of the same tissues were evaluated with the MiSeq approach. Our findings provide a proof of concept for capturing endophyte DNA from herbarium specimens, supporting the importance of herbarium records as roadmaps for understanding the dynamics of plant-associated microbial biodiversity in the Anthropocene.This article is part of the theme issue 'Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the Anthropocene'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barnabas H Daru
- Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX 78412, USA
| | | | - Donald H Pfister
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - A Elizabeth Arnold
- School of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
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Meineke EK, Davis CC, Davies TJ. The unrealized potential of herbaria for global change biology. ECOL MONOGR 2018. [DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Emily K. Meineke
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Harvard University Herbaria; 22 Divinity Avenue Cambridge Massachusetts 02138 USA
- Department of Biology; McGill University; 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue Montreal Quebec H3A 1B1 Canada
| | - Charles C. Davis
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Harvard University Herbaria; 22 Divinity Avenue Cambridge Massachusetts 02138 USA
| | - T. Jonathan Davies
- Department of Biology; McGill University; 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue Montreal Quebec H3A 1B1 Canada
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Kavanagh PH, Burns KC. Sexual size dimorphism in island plants: the niche variation hypothesis and insular size changes. OIKOS 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.01753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Patrick H. Kavanagh
- School of Biological Sciences, Victoria Univ. of Wellington; PO Box 600 Wellington New Zealand
| | - Kevin C. Burns
- School of Biological Sciences, Victoria Univ. of Wellington; PO Box 600 Wellington New Zealand
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Kavanagh PH. Herbivory and the evolution of divaricate plants: Structural defences lost on an offshore island. AUSTRAL ECOL 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.12196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Patrick H. Kavanagh
- School of Biological Sciences; Victoria University of Wellington; P.O. Box 600 Wellington 6140 New Zealand
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Husak JF, McGuire JA. Does ‘gliding while gravid’ explain Rensch's rule in flying lizards? Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jerry F. Husak
- Department of Biology; University of St. Thomas; St. Paul MN 55105 USA
| | - Jimmy A. McGuire
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology; University of California; Berkeley CA 94720 USA
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12
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De Lisle SP, Rowe L. Correlated Evolution of Allometry and Sexual Dimorphism across Higher Taxa. Am Nat 2013; 182:630-9. [DOI: 10.1086/673282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Barrett SCH, Hough J. Sexual dimorphism in flowering plants. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2013; 64:67-82. [PMID: 23183260 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/ers308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 170] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Among dioecious flowering plants, females and males often differ in a range of morphological, physiological, and life-history traits. This is referred to as sexual dimorphism, and understanding why it occurs is a central question in evolutionary biology. Our review documents a range of sexually dimorphic traits in angiosperm species, discusses their ecological consequences, and details the genetic and evolutionary processes that drive divergence between female and male phenotypes. We consider why sexual dimorphism in plants is generally less well developed than in many animal groups, and also the importance of sexual and natural selection in contributing to differences between the sexes. Many sexually dimorphic characters, including both vegetative and flowering traits, are associated with differences in the costs of reproduction, which are usually greater in females, particularly in longer-lived species. These differences can influence the frequency and distribution of females and males across resource gradients and within heterogeneous environments, causing niche differences and the spatial segregation of the sexes. The interplay between sex-specific adaptation and the breakdown of between-sex genetic correlations allows for the independent evolution of female and male traits, and this is influenced in some species by the presence of sex chromosomes. We conclude by providing suggestions for future work on sexual dimorphism in plants, including investigations of the ecological and genetic basis of intraspecific variation, and genetic mapping and expression studies aimed at understanding the genetic architecture of sexually dimorphic trait variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Spencer C H Barrett
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - James A. Schulte
- Department of Biology; Clarkson University; Potsdam; NY; 13699-5805; USA
| | - Tom A. Langen
- Department of Biology; Clarkson University; Potsdam; NY; 13699-5805; USA
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