Contribution to reproductive effort by photosynthesis of flowers and fruits

Bazzaz, F. A.; Carlson, R.W.; Harper, John L.

doi:10.1038/279554a0

Cited by 352 publications

(163 citation statements)

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“…[Some large male trees occasionally produced fruits (18,19), but never more than one to five, far fewer than similarly sized females.] Fecundity was positively correlated with tree size (r s 21 In addition to carbon costs, fruits and seeds of O. tenera are well provisioned with nitrogen, a limiting nutrient in many environments, particularly in the tropics; nitrogen made up 2.3% (dry weight) of the protein-rich exocarp alone (17). Thus, some females invested as much as 2.2 kg of nitrogen in fruit pulp over a 12-year period.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some plant species, photosynthetic activity of maturing fruits, sepals and other reproductive structures supports a substantial fraction of the overall energy costs of reproduction (21). The exocarp of O. tenera fruits that were full-sized but still green had photosynthetic capacities of 4.7 Ϯ 1.7 mol of O 2 m Ϫ2 ⅐s Ϫ1 (n ϭ 4).…”

Section: Growth Rates Of Males Versus Femalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Previous-year reproduction reduces photosynthetic capacity and slows lifetime growth in females of a neotropical tree

Wheelwright

Logan

2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Females of dioecious plant species typically invest more in reproduction than males because they produce seeds, fruits, and associated structures in addition to flowers. If females are unable to compensate by up-regulating rates of photosynthesis or by reproducing less frequently than males, their greater reproductive investment may result in reduced growth or higher mortality. Here we provide evidence of the cost of reproduction in Ocotea tenera (Lauraceae), a dioecious neotropical tree common in lower montane forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica. Over periods of 12-21 years, females grew more slowly than males in a natural population and in two experimental plots where we were able to control for genotype, age, habitat, and reproductive history. Simultaneous measurements of 10 matched pairs of sibling trees of the opposite sex but same age demonstrated that the photosynthetic capacities of females were 13% lower than those of males. Among females, photosynthetic capacity was negatively correlated with fruit production during the most recent reproductive season but not with lifetime fruit production. Sexual size dimorphism in adult O. tenera trees appears to be a nonadaptive consequence of trading off recent reproduction against maintenance of the photosynthetic apparatus, with long-term negative effects on growth.D ioecious plants, species in which male and female flowers are borne on separate individuals, offer an opportunity to assess the costs of reproduction by examining how sexual differences in reproductive effort affect physiology, growth, and life history traits (1, 2). Greater allocation of resources toward reproduction by one sex (typically females) may result in sexspecific differences in the production and consumption of fixed carbon at the whole-plant level, with both short-term consequences (e.g., photosynthetic acclimation) and long-term consequences (e.g., fecundity, growth, and survival). In some dioecious species, the costs of reproduction are reflected in the fact that females are less likely to survive in stressful habitats, which results in spatial segregation of the sexes (3, 4). In other species (5, 6), females can co-occur with males but must defray the costs of reproduction by delaying reproductive maturity or by reproducing less frequently than males (7,8).Although it is now well established that females of many dioecious plant species invest more carbon, nitrogen, and other resources in reproduction than males (2), few studies have linked physiological performance with morphological or demographic consequences or taken into account the influence of recent reproductive effort, much less lifetime reproductive effort, particularly in long-lived trees (9). Moreover, it has been difficult to generalize about the sex-specific costs of reproduction because of differences in the results of laboratory versus field studies and between studies of herbaceous versus woody plants. For example, females tend to be larger than males in herbaceous plants grown in greenhouse experiments (10). In contrast,...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Growth Rates Of Males Versus Femalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Previous-year reproduction reduces photosynthetic capacity and slows lifetime growth in females of a neotropical tree

Wheelwright

Logan

2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Por el contrario, la fenología reproductiva o floral (desarrollo de flores y frutos) depende de la compleja interacción de una serie de factores endógenos y exógenos aún no bien documentados, como temperatura ambiental, fotoperíodo, humedad ambiental y otros (Opler et al, 1976;Bazzaz et al;, Bullock, 1986Lovett-Doust y Lovett-Doust, 1988). En las plantas anuales, mientras exista agua disponible, el desarrollo y los estadíos fenológicos son continuos a partir de su germinación; la floración y fructificación pueden concebirse como el resultado de la madurez del individuo, pero son también moduladas por factores del medio (Inouye, 1991).…”

Section: Introduccionunclassified

Fenología floral de una comunidad árido-tropical de Baja California Sur, México

1996

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RESUMENSe efectuó un estudio fenológico floral en una comunidad vegetal cercana a la costa del Mar de Cortés, en el sur de Baja California Sur, México. El sitio se ubica en los límites de dos provincias fitogeográficas: la Región del Cabo, de características árido-tropicales y el Desierto Sonorense. Entre otras particularidades, en la localidad se presenta un patrón de lluvias bimodal, con máximas correspondientes a los períodos de verano y de invierno.En 200 ha de superficie se registró por dos años la presencia y ausencia de floración en 136 especies de plantas vasculares, agrupadas de acuerdo con su forma de crecimiento en: 13 árboles, 46 arbustos, 52 herbáceas (37 anuales y 15 perennes), 11 suculentas, 11 trepadoras, y 3 parásitas. Los mismos taxa se ubicaron, atendiendo a su respuesta de floración en tres clases: a) inducida por la precipitación pluvial (60); b) fuera de la temporada de lluvias (46); y c) con patrón irregular o sostenido (30). El espectro de floración en los dos ciclos de observación muestra que las especies leñosas, como grupo, se mantuvieron en flor durante todo este período. La sincronía en la floración de las especies en el sitio de estudio parece ser inferior a la registrada en una comunidad subtropical en la costa mexicana contigua. ABSTRACTA flowering phenology study was carried out in a plant community close to the Gulf of California coast in the southern part of Baja California Sur, Mexico. The area is located on the border between two phytographical provinces: the Cape Region of arid-tropical features and the Sonoran Desert. Among several characteristics, the site presents a bimodal rain pattern, the maxima corresponding to the late summer and winter seasons.For two years the presence-absence of flowers of 136 species of vascular plants were registered in an area of 200 hectares. Species were grouped according to their life forms in: 13 trees; 46 shrubs, 52 herbs (37 annuals, and 15 perennials), 11 succulents, 11 climbing vines and 3 parasites. The same taxa were grouped according to their flowering response in three classes: a) flowering induced by the rainy season (60); b) flowering in the dry season (46); and c) species of irregular or maintained flowering pattern (30). The flowering spectrum obtained from two years of observation shows that the woody species, as a group, exhibit flowers all the year. Flower synchrony at the study site seems to be less pronounced than that reported from a subtropical plant community on the near coast of mainland Mexico.

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“…In contrast, Zhang et al (2012) reported that female plants have larger leaf, branch, and stem wood biomass than males, owing to their green flowers and fruits. In several studies, it has been demonstrated that green flowers and fruits are capable of photosynthesis and can supply a significant amount of their own carbon requirements (Bazzaz et al 1979;Williams et al 1985;Galen et al 1993). For A. tegmentosum in this study, the reproductive components of hermaphrodite trees are also green, but they do not seem to contribute much to growth.…”

Section: Gender-related Allometric Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomass allocation patterns and allometric relationships between components of the androdioecious Acer tegmentosum

Zhang

Zhao

2016

Annals of Forest Science

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& Key messageWe present comparisons about biomass allocation between males and hermaphrodites of androdioecious Acer tegmentosum Maxim.. Different biomass allocation patterns were found, and males were shown to have a larger investment into coarse roots and foliage. & Context Sexual dimorphism in differences of reproductive costs between genders has been widely reported for trees, but we still know little about allometric relationships between tree components in both genders. & Aims We present biomass allocation patterns and relationships between components of the androdioecious A. tegmentosum in a broad-leaved mixed forest in northeastern China. The objectives of this study were to examine how gender affects the biomass structure of androdioecious species and how the gender-related reproductive efforts affect the allometric relationships. & Methods We harvested 31 hermaphrodite and 29 male A. tegmentosum trees and opted for diameter at breast height, tree height, and crown length as the independent variables and various biomass components as the dependent variables. Five types of function were used to model allometry equations. & Results Biomass allocation between genders was different, and the best biomass model for each biomass component varies between genders. Males have a higher investment in foliage and coarse root biomass than hermaphrodites, and hermaphrodites invested more in reproduction than males.& Conclusion Biomass equations are strongly gender-related. Males tended to invest a larger fraction of the vegetative biomass into leaves and coarse roots.

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Contribution to reproductive effort by photosynthesis of flowers and fruits

Cited by 352 publications

References 5 publications

Previous-year reproduction reduces photosynthetic capacity and slows lifetime growth in females of a neotropical tree

Previous-year reproduction reduces photosynthetic capacity and slows lifetime growth in females of a neotropical tree

Fenología floral de una comunidad árido-tropical de Baja California Sur, México

Biomass allocation patterns and allometric relationships between components of the androdioecious Acer tegmentosum

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