The ability of individuals to change sex during their lifetime is known as environmental sex determination (ESD). This ability represents a unique life history trait, allowing plants to allocate resources differentially...
Diverse breeding systems have evolved in angiosperms from the bisexual flowers of their last common ancestor. However, breeding system evolution remains poorly understood in many plant families, including the Moraceae...
Sexual dimorphism in morphology, physiology or life history traits is common in dioecious plants at reproductive maturity, but it is typically inconspicuous or absent in juveniles. Although plants of different sexes...
Dioecious plants are of particular concern in view of global environmental changes because reproductive females are more sensitive to abiotic stresses, thus compromising population viability. Positive interactions with...
Dispersal is crucial due to its direct impact on dynamics of a species’ distribution as well as having a role in shaping adaptive potential through gene flow. In plants forming scarce and small populations, knowledge...
The Mesozoic is often referred to as the “age of cycads”. During this period, dinosaurs roamed vast cycad forests, yet modern cycads are a vestige of their Mesozoic glory. Extant species represent the oldest lineage of...
It's difficult to peer into the past to see the first flowering plant, but Charlie Scutt shows how an ancestor in the modern-era provides some clues as to what it looked like.
Amborella trichopoda, the sister species of all other extant angiosperms, is typically dioecious, producing male and female flowers on separate individuals. Anger et al. map sex phenotypes onto a phylogeny of basally...
Female reproductive success in females versus hermaphrodites has been well documented. However, documenting a potential advantage in fertility of male versus hermaphrodite individuals in subdioecious species is also...