10.5061/DRYAD.PK0P2NGHX
Wang, Yunyun
0000-0002-2019-8996
Central South University of Forestry and Technology
Lyu, Tong
Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte
Shrestha, Nawal
Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte
Lyu, Lisha
Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte
Li, Yaoqi
Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte
Schmid, Bernhard
University of Zurich
Freckleton, Robert
Hessische Hochschule für Polizei und Verwaltung
Dimitrov, Dimitar
Prirodnjacki Muzej Crne Gore
Liu, Shuguang
Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología
Hao, Zhanqing
Northwestern Polytechnical University
Wang, Zhiheng
Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte
Drivers of large-scale geographical variation in sexual systems of woody plants
Dryad
dataset
2019
China
Woody angiosperms
2020-12-20T00:00:00Z
2020-12-20T00:00:00Z
en
450808 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Aim: Sexual systems strongly influence angiosperm evolution, and play
important roles in community assembly and species responses to climate
change. However, geographical variation in proportions of different sexual
systems (dioecy, monoecy, and hermaphroditism) in response to changes in
climate, life-history traits and evolutionary age remains poorly
understood. Here, we map the geographical variation in proportions of
different sexual systems and hypothesize that the prevalence of
hermaphrodites increases with aridity due to their advantages in
colonizing harsh environment, whereas dioecy is most successful in humid
regions with tall-canopy vegetation and old floras. Location: China Time
period: Current Major taxa studied: Woody angiosperms Methods: Using data
on sexual systems and distributions of 10,449 woody species in China, we
estimated the proportions of different sexual systems in local floras (50
× 50 km grid cells). Spatial linear models, phylogenetic general linear
models and structural equation models were used to compare the relative
influences of climate, plant height and evolutionary age on geographical
variation in proportions of different sexual systems. Results: We found
contrasting geographical patterns in the proportions of different sexual
systems. The proportions of dioecy and monoecy increased with plant height
and were highest in humid regions with older floras, while that of
hermaphroditism decreased with plant height and was highest in arid
regions with younger floras. Plant height was the strongest correlate of
sexual system frequency. Climate influenced sexual system frequency both
directly and indirectly via its effects on plant height. Main conclusions:
Our study provides the first continuous map of sexual system composition
in woody floras over a large spatial scale. Our findings suggest that
mature plant height, reflecting plant longevity, dominates geographical
variation in sexual systems and that the proportions of different sexual
systems in local floras may reflect their correlated evolution with traits
in response to climate changes.