Abstract
In this study, we aimed to explore the effect of altitude on reproductive ingredient and sex allocation of different colors of Anemone obtusiloba in populations. The variations of reproductive ingredient and sex allocation of three colors of Anemone obtusiloba in different four altitudinal gradients at the eastern Qinghai Tibetan Plateau were examined. Our results showed that with the increased altitude, gynoecium/flower, androceium/flower and gynoecium/individual were increased, but androceium/individual, gynoecium number/flower, androceium number/flower, gynoecium number/ individual and androceium number/individual in three flower color of Anemone obtusiloba were decreased. Besides, male allocation and ♂/♀ were also decreased, which showed female-biased sex allocation. Furthermore, in the four altitudinal gradients, the individual size of same color was positively correlated with reproductive ingredient, and altitude had a direct impact on size-dependent reproductive ingredient. However, there were not certain correlations between male allocation, ♂/♀ and individual size in the same color of Anemone obtusiloba. Moreover, in the four altitudinal gradients, the reproductive investment of same color was positively correlated with gynoecium and androceium, but there were not certain correlations between male allocation, ♂/♀ and reproductive investment. In conclusion, altitude had a significant effect on reproductive ingredient and sex allocation in different colors of Anemone obtusiloba. Different colors of Anemone obtusiloba all increased of female function with the increased altitude. However, there were difference in influence mechanism of altitude on size-dependent reproductive ingredient and distribution between female and male function of resource.
Highlights
The basic activity of plant growth is to obtain, utilize and allocate resources from the environment (Gangappa & Botto, 2016)
The gynoecium number/flowers, androceium number/flowers, gynoecium number/individual and androceium number/individual of the three flower colors were all decreased with the increase of altitude, and gynoecium/flower in white and yellow, androceium/flower in light yellow and yellow, gynoecium/individual in yellow and androceium/individual in light yellow and yellow reached extremely significant level (P < 0.01)
The results showed that with the increase of altitude, the sex allocation of different colors had different responses, and all of them showed a partial female allocation
Summary
The basic activity of plant growth is to obtain, utilize and allocate resources from the environment (Gangappa & Botto, 2016). The study of plant resource allocation mainly focuses on two aspects of reproductive allocation and sexual allocation. Reproductive allocation refers to the proportion of resources allocated to propagules to vegetative bodies, while sexual allocation mainly studies the optimal allocation of reproductive resources between male and female (Li et al, 2019). They have become a research hotspot of evolutionary biologists (Teitel et al, 2016; Coelho et al, 2005; Tonnabel et al, 2017). The change of altitude gradient provides an ideal condition for studying the ecological adaptability of plant growth and reproduction (Dostálek et al, 2018). If pollinators show a negative frequency dependent selection of light color (Reverté et al, 2016; Thairu & Brunet, 2015), the sex allocation strategies of plants are bound to change, and there may be differences in reproductive ingredient and sex allocation among different color populations
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