Sex-specific morphological and physiological differences in the moss Ceratodon purpureus (Dicranales).

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Dioecy and sexual dimorphism occur in many terrestrial plant species but are especially widespread among the bryophytes. Despite the prevalence of dioecy in non-vascular plants, surprisingly little is known about how fine-scale sex-specific cell and leaf morphological traits are correlated with sex-specific physiology and population sex ratios. Such data are critical to understanding the inter-relationship between sex-specific morphological and physiological characters and how their relationship influences population structure. In this study, these data types were assessed to determine how they vary across three populations within one moss species and whether fine-scale morphological traits scale up to physiological and sex ratio characteristics.

Methods

SUBMITTER: Slate ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5714240 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature