ArticleOecologia2017
Sex-specific strategies of resource allocation in response to competition for light in a dioecious plant.
Article in Oecologia, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed.
- Light and Pollination Limitation Alter Patterns of Fitness and Phenotypic Selection inEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Integrated methylome and transcriptome analysis provides insight into DNA methylation-mediated networks in sexual dimorphism of Vernicia montana.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Divergence of DioeciousMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Season over plant sex: drivers of leaf damage and plant defence in a dioecious Mediterranean shrub.Plant biology (Stuttgart, Germany) · 2026Article
- Reversibility of sex changes in the plant kingdom: more important than we thought?Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Testing predictions of spatial segregation of the sexes and life-history theory in three species of the dioecious genus Baccharis L. from southeastern Brazil.Plant biology (Stuttgart, Germany) · 2025Article
- Sex-Specific Responses of Sexual Reproduction, Clonal Reproduction, and Vegetative Growth to Environmental (Biotic and Abiotic) Factors in the Clonal Dioecious PlantPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Variable resource allocation pattern, biased sex-ratio, and extent of sexual dimorphism in subdioecious Hippophae rhamnoides.PloS one · 2024Article
- Plant sex influences on riparian communities and ecosystems.Ecology and evolution · 2023Review
- Molecular responses to salinity stress inFrontiers in plant science · 2023Article
- Rapid divergence in vegetative morphology of a wind-pollinated plant between populations at contrasting densities.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2022Article
- Simulated herbivory enhances leaky sex expression in the dioecious herb Mercurialis annua.Annals of botany · 2022Article
- Sex-based metabolic and microbiota differences in roots and rhizosphere soils of dioecious papaya (Frontiers in plant science · 2022Article
- Article
- Sexual Dimorphism in the Chemical Composition of Male and Female in the Dioecious Tree,International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- Plant ontogeny determines strength and associated plant fitness consequences of plant-mediated interactions between herbivores and flower visitors.The Journal of ecology · 2020Article
- Optimization of Artificial Light for Spinach Growth in Plant Factory Based on Orthogonal Test.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Do metrics of sexual selection conform to Bateman's principles in a wind-pollinated plant?Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Low siring success of females with an acquired male function illustrates the legacy of sexual dimorphism in constraining the breakdown of dioecy.Ecology letters · 2019Article
- Light Availability and Patterns of Allocation to Reproductive and Vegetative Biomass in the Sexes of the Dioecious MacrophyteFrontiers in plant science · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The differential plasticity hypothesis suggests that sexual dimorphism in dioecious plants could evolve in response to sex-specific resource requirements for reproduction (i.e., high carbon requirements for ovules and high nitrogen demands for pollen). When resources become limiting during growth, males and females should, therefore, adjust their allocation to resource-harvesting organs differently. To investigate the potential for plants to respond to resource limitation late in life and to test the differential plasticity hypothesis, we grew male and female individuals of the annual wind-pollinated plant Mercurialis annua in a common garden. Late in the growth season, we simulated a change in competition by decreasing plant density in half of the replicates. We measured both allocation to vegetative and reproductive traits and analyzed the relative allocation to reproduction vs. growth. Males and females differentially adjusted their resource allocation in response to varying plant densities, despite the fact that they were reproductively mature. Males maintained the same relative allocation of resource to reproductive vs. vegetative tissues at both densities. In contrast, females reduced vegetative growth proportionally less than seed production at the higher density. Our results highlight the dynamic nature of allocation decisions taken by plants, which respond quickly and in a sexually dimorphic way to changes in their competitive circumstances. The existence of resource 'currencies' limiting male and female functions differently have potentially led to the evolution of sex-specific strategies of resource acquisition and deployment, with females conserving resources for vegetative organs to ensure their future carbon-rich reproduction.
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