Dioecious Plants: Evolution And Sex Ratio And Asepen Decline

<p>Although dioecious species are rare in nature, the sexual system appears in a diverse number of families and across all life forms and global locations. We looked at the population dynamics of natural populations to determine why many dioecious populations display biased sex ratios. We also looked at the role incestuous matings, seed and pollen dispersal patterns, and compensation play in the evolution of this sexual system using two theoretical models we developed. Finally, we studied aspen populations in the Midwest to determine how climate variables affect growth and decline. We found many dioecious species display male biased ratios and that life form and dispersal agents are good indicators. Our theoretical models imply that incest and dispersal specialization of unisexual individuals facilitate invasion, but through the interaction of specialization, incest, and compensation, unisexual invasion occurs much more consistently and under less stringent conditions then previously modeled. Finally, we found that declining aspen stands were much less responsive to climate variables than healthy stands and that a number of stand characteristics could be used to discriminate between responsive and non-responsive stands.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biological Sciences

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Sinclair, Jordan P.

Contributors dc:contributor

• D Carl Freeman
• Daniel M. Kashian

• biased sex ratio
• Dioecy
• plant mating systems
• Biology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/620

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wayne.edu:oa_dissertations-1619