Patterns in plant parthenogenesis

Abstract

Several recent reviews have described the ecological and geographical patterns of parthenogenesis in animals (Bell, 1982; Glesener and Tilman, 1978) in an effort to determine which selective forces best explain the maintenance of sexual reproduction. These reviews conclude that parthenogenetic lineages tend to be found at higher latitudes, at higher elevations, in more xeric conditions, in more disturbed habitats, and on more island-like habitats than their sexual relatives. In general, it is argued that asexual taxa are more widely distributed than are their sexual relatives, with sexuals limited to habitats in which the important selective forces are principally biotic rather than physical.