Summary
Data from 44 plant communities of the arid zone of western North America and from the entire California flora suggest that the dioecious habit (separate sexed individuals) is best developed among wind pollinated woody plants. A rationale is presented for the ways in which wind pollination and large plant size have favored the development of the dioecious habit. Based upon the patterns examined, it is concluded that inbreeding depression alone is insufficient to account for the evolution of the dioecious habit in many temperate species.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ashton, P.S.: Speciation among tropical forest trees: some deductions in light of recent evidence. Biol. J. Linnaen Soc. London 1, 155–196 (1969)
Baker, H.G.: Reproduction methods as factors in speciation in flowering plants. Cold Spring Harbor symp. Quart. Biol. 25, 177–191 (1959)
Barker, P., Freeman, D.C., Harper, K.T.: Environmental influences on sex expression in Acer grandidentatum Nutt. (in review, 1979)
Bawa, K.S., Opler, P.A.: Dioecism in tropical forest trees. Evol. 29, 167–179 (1975)
Carlquist, S.: The biota of long distance disperal. IV. Genetic systems in floras of oceanic islands. Evol. 20, 433–455 (1966)
Curtis, J.T.: The vegetation of Wisconsin. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1959
Freeman, D.C., Klikoff, L.G., Harper, K.T.: Differential resource utilization by the sexes of dioecious plants. Science 193, 597–599 (1976)
Freeman, D.C., McArthur, E.D., Harper, K.T.: The influence of environmental quality on the floral sex ratio of monoecious plants (in review, 1979)
Gilmartin, A.J.: Barker's law and dioecism in the Hawaiian flora: An apparent contradiction. Pac. Sci. 22, 286–291 (1968)
Grant, V.: The fertilization of flowers. Sci. Amer. 184, 52–56 (1951)
Hall, H.H.: Subalpine Meadow Ecology. Thesis, University of Utah 1971
Harper, K.T.: Permanent plot native vegetation studies. In: Vegetation air pollution investigations in the vicinity of the four corners and San Juan Power Plants, (A.C. Hill et al., eds.) pp. 20–43. Salt Lake City: Environmental Studies Laboratory (University of Utah Research Institute) 1976
Jaynes, R., Harper, K.T.: The relative responses of selected plant lifeforms to envornment in southwest United States. (unpublished data)
Kleiner, E.F., Harper, K.T.: Environment and community organization in grasslands of Canyonlands National Park. Ecology 53, 299–309 (1972)
Lewis, D.: The evolution of sex in flowering plants. Biol. Rev. Cambridge Phil. Soc. 17, 46–67 (1942)
Lysova, N.V., Khizhnyak, N.I.: Sex differences in trees in the dry steppe. The Soviet J. of Ecol. 6, 522–527 (1975)
Mather, K.: Outbreeding and separation of the sexes. Nature 145, 484–486 (1940)
Munz, P.A., Keck, D.A.: A California flora. Berkeley; University of California Press 1968
Ream, R.: The vegetation of the Wasatch Mountains, Utah and Idaho, Dissertation, University of Wisconsin 1963
Richards, A.J.: Notes on Potentilla fruticosa. Transactions of the Natural History society of Northumbria. 42, 84–92 (1975)
Stebbins, G.L.: Natural selection and differentiation of angiosperm families. Evol. 5, 299–324 (1951)
Steel, R.G.D., Torrie, S.H.: Principles and procedures of statistics. New York, Toronto, London: McGraw-Hill Book Co. (1960)
Warner, J.H., Harper, K.T.: Understory characteristics related to site quality for aspen, in Utah. Brigham Young Univ. Science Bulletin Biological Series, 16, 1–20 (1972)
Westergaard, M.: The mechanism of sex determination in dioecious flowering plants. Advances in Genetics 9, 217–281 (1958)
Wood, B., Welsh, S., Murdock, J.R.: unpublished data.
Yampolsky, C., Yampolsky, H.: Distribution of sex forms in the phanerogamic flora. Bibliotheca Genet. 3, 1–62 (1922)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Carl Freeman, D., Harper, K.T. & Kent Ostler, W. Ecology of plant dioecy in the intermountain region of Western North America and California. Oecologia 44, 410–417 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00545246
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00545246