Abstract
Population sex ratios of many dioecious plants in nature are biased. This may be attributed to sexually different resource demands and adaptive capacity. In male-biasedPopulus, males often display stronger physiological adaptation than females. Interestingly, Populus and Salix, belonging to Salicaceae, display an opposite biased sex ratio, especially in nutrient-poor environmental conditions. Do female willows have a greater tolerance to nutrient deficiency than males? In this study, we investigated the growth and defensive strategies of Salix paraplesia cuttings, which were grown with high and low soil fertility for about 140 days over one growing season. Results suggest that different strategies for biomass allocation may result in sexually different defense capacities and trade-offs between growth and defense. Females are likely to adopt radical strategies, overdrawing on available resources to satisfy both growth and defense, which seems to be more like a gamble compared with males. It is also suggested that females may have an extra mechanism to compensate for the investment in growth under nutrient-poor conditions. In summary, the results may help focus restoration efforts on sex selection such that a moderate increase in female willow quantity could increase the resistance and resilience of willow populations to early sporadic desertification.
Highlights
Dioecy is found in 175 flowering plant families and in 7% of flowering plant genera (Renner, 2014)
Similar results were observed for total leaf area with one exception: the nutrient factor had no effect for plants grown in the first harvest intervals (Days 1–100)
There was no effect on Stem weight ratio (SWR) for plants grown in the middle harvest interval (Days 101–120)
Summary
Dioecy is found in 175 flowering plant families and in 7% of flowering plant genera (Renner, 2014). Classic sex ratio theory suggests that when reproductive costs to produce a female vs a male offspring are equal, natural selection will act to balance the sex ratio of the population (Fisher, 1930). Numerous investigations have revealed that the population sex ratios of many dioecious plants are biased (Barrett et al, 2010; Sinclair et al, 2012; Munné-Bosch, 2015). Barrett et al (2010) reported that most plant species exhibit equal or male-biased sex ratios, whereas female-biased sex ratios occur less frequently. Many researchers speculate that this phenomenon is most likely to be associated with the fundamental biological processes of gender dimorphism (Tognetti, 2012). We cannot ignore the fact that females have a higher
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