Allocation to Reproduction and Relative Reproductive Costs in Two Species of Dioecious Anacardiaceae with Contrasting Phenology

Abstract

Relative reproductive costs at the shoot level were detected in Rhus trichocarpa, which has simultaneous leafing and flowering, but not in R. javanica, which has leafing followed by flowering. However, the costs for the whole-plant level were diminished in both species. The results suggest that the phenophase type may produce the different costs for R. javanica and R. trichocarpa through the development of a compensation mechanism.

Generalist pollinators in the dioecious shrub Rhus trichocarpa Miq. (Anacardiaceae) and their role in reproductive success

“…Rhus trichocarpa is native to the mountains and foothills of north-eastern Asia: Japan, including the southern Kuriles, Hokkaido, Honsyu, Shikoku, Kyusyu and Okinawa; Korea; and China (Ohwi & Kitagawa 1992). It is a deciduous shrub approximately 4 m in height in the study area (Matsuyama & Sakimoto 2008). The inflorescence forms from axillary buds on current-year shoots, with numerous small flowers (Ohwi & Kitagawa 1992).…”

“…Most flower corollas are <10 mm wide and <10 mm tall (S. Matsuyama, 2005). In the study area flowering occurs in early June and fruits mature in October (Matsuyama & Sakimoto 2008). The sexes of R. trichocarpa flowers can be distinguished by color; male flowers are yellowish and female flowers are greenish (S. Matsuyama, unpubl.…”

Inter-specific and sexual differences in architectural traits of two dioecious Lindera species (Lauraceae)

“…This inequality might represent a compensatory mechanism for higher reproductive costs incurred by females. Many studies reported larger female than male allocations to photosynthetic organs based on the area of single leaf (Bond and Midgley 1988;Midgley 2010;Wheelwright et al 2012), at the shoot level (Ueno et al 2006;Matsuyama and Sakimoto 2008;Tozawa et al 2009) and the whole plant level (Korpelainen 1992;Nicotra et al 2003), and in the allometric relationship between stem diameter and leaf biomass (Zhang et al 2012). Net assimilation is affected not only by the number of photosynthetic organs, but also by photosynthetic rate, which sometimes differs between females and males (Nicotra et al 2003;Tozawa et al 2009).…”

“…Because plants allocate their limited resources among competing functions, elevated requirements for reproduction diminish resource allocation to other functions such as growth and maintenance. A number of comparative studies have examined sexual differences in reproductive costs (Cipollini and Whigham 1994;Suzuki 2005;Matsuyama and Sakimoto 2008;Torimaru and Tomaru 2012), vegetative traits (Obeso et al 1998;Nanami et al 2005;Sánchez-Vilas et al 2012), and demographic patterns (Allen and Antos 1993;Espírito-Santo et al 2003;Matsushita and Tomaru 2012). However, less attention has been focused on sexual differences in allometric relationships, branching traits, and wood density, which characterize tree architecture, in dioecious plant species.…”

Costs of reproduction in life history of a perennial plant Carex secalina

“…This lack of evidence most often stems from the applied research methods and the biological nature of this phenomenon. The most important biological reasons for failure in determining the costs of reproduction are as follows: (1) compensation mechanisms for such costs that facilitate a higher uptake of resources during reproduction, (2) temporal separation between reproductive and somatic allocation, which reduces the costs of reproduction and (3) different demands for resources required for somatic growth and reproduction [4,5,10].…”