No evidence of sexual niche partitioning in a dioecious moss with rare sexual reproduction.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Roughly half of the species of bryophytes have separate sexes (dioecious) and half are hermaphroditic (monoecious). This variation has major consequences for the ecology and evolution of the different species. In some sexually reproducing dioecious bryophytes, sex ratio has been shown to vary with environmental conditions. This study focuses on the dioecious wetland moss Drepanocladus trifarius, which rarely produces sexual branches or sporophytes and lacks apparent secondary sex characteristics, and examines whether genetic sexes exhibit different habitat preferences, i.e. whether sexual niche partitioning occurs.

Methods

A total of 277 shoots of D. trifarius were randomly sampled at 214 locations and 12 environmental factors were quantified at each site

SUBMITTER: Bisang I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4590334 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature