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Allocation of reproductive effort to the male and female strategies in wind-pollinated plants

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Summary

Amaranthus and several other wind-pollinated species of plants are used to test some of the theoretical models of relative reproductive effort towards the male and female sexes. Consistent with these models, in self-compatible, monoecious Amaranthus, Chenopodium, Digitaria, Setaria, and Lepidium, female effort represented over 90% of the total reproductive effort. Also consistent with predictions, Lolium, a self-incompatible wind-pollinated species, was found to have about equal male and female effort. A method is described here that should prove useful in quantifying male and female effort in both wind and insect-pollinated species of plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Field Museum of Natural History, 60605, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Cliff Lemen

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  1. Cliff Lemen
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Lemen, C. Allocation of reproductive effort to the male and female strategies in wind-pollinated plants. Oecologia 45, 156–159 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346454

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346454

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