Low siring success of females with an acquired male function illustrates the legacy of sexual dimorphism in constraining the breakdown of dioecy.

Details

Ressource 1Download: Blanco_et_al-2019-Ecology_Letters.pdf (499.61 [Ko])
State: Public
Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_0B092ED3A95E
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Publication sub-type
Letter (letter): Communication to the publisher.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Low siring success of females with an acquired male function illustrates the legacy of sexual dimorphism in constraining the breakdown of dioecy.
Journal
Ecology letters
Author(s)
Santos Del Blanco L., Tudor E., Pannell J.R.
ISSN
1461-0248 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1461-023X
Publication state
Published
Issued date
03/2019
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
22
Number
3
Pages
486-497
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Letter
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
Dioecy has often broken down in flowering plants, yielding functional hermaphroditism. We reasoned that evolutionary transitions from dioecy to functional hermaphroditism must overcome an inertia of sexual dimorphism, because modified males or females will express the opposite sexual function for which their phenotypes have been optimised. We tested this prediction by assessing the siring success of monoecious individuals of the plant Mercurialis annua with an acquired male function but that are phenotypically still female-like. We found that pollen dispersed by female-like monoecious individuals was ~ 1/3 poorer at siring outcrossed offspring than pollen from monoecious individuals with an alternative male-like inflorescence. We conclude that whereas dioecy might evolve from functional hermaphroditism by conferring upon individuals certain benefits of sexual specialisation, reversion from a strategy of separate sexes to one of combined sexes must overcome constraints imposed by the advantages of sexual dimorphism. The breakdown of dioecy must therefore often be limited to situations in which outcrossing cannot be maintained and where selection favours a capacity for inbreeding by functional hermaphrodites.
Keywords
Biological Evolution, Female, Humans, Magnoliopsida, Male, Plant Breeding, Pollen, Reproduction, Sex Characteristics, Mercurialis annua, Dioecy, functional hermaphroditism, gain curves, inflorescence architecture, monoecy, sex allocation, sexual dimorphism
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
03/02/2019 16:18
Last modification date
21/11/2022 9:18
Usage data