Flowering, growth and defence in the two sexes: consequences of herbivore exclusion for Salix polaris
Summary For a long time, dioecious plants have been a model system for understanding the interactions between plants and herbivores. Differences in growth rate and, consequently, investment in defence between sexes may lead to skewed sex ratios due to differential herbivory. In this study we evaluat...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2435.2002.00662.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1365-2435.2002.00662.x https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2435.2002.00662.x |
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crwiley:10.1046/j.1365-2435.2002.00662.x 2024-06-02T08:13:31+00:00 Flowering, growth and defence in the two sexes: consequences of herbivore exclusion for Salix polaris Dormann, Carsten F. Skarpe, Christina 2002 http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2435.2002.00662.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1365-2435.2002.00662.x https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2435.2002.00662.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Functional Ecology volume 16, issue 5, page 649-656 ISSN 0269-8463 1365-2435 journal-article 2002 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2435.2002.00662.x 2024-05-03T11:06:09Z Summary For a long time, dioecious plants have been a model system for understanding the interactions between plants and herbivores. Differences in growth rate and, consequently, investment in defence between sexes may lead to skewed sex ratios due to differential herbivory. In this study we evaluated the applicability of this idea to polar willow ( Salix polaris ), which in the study site, Svalbard, displays a female‐biased sex ratio. Excluding reindeer for 3 years increased the abundance of male flowers in one of two vegetation types investigated. Growth rates differed only slightly between the sexes, with females investing more in inflorescences. The concentration of chemical defence compounds (phenolics and condensed tannins) did not differ between the sexes. On the basis of these findings, the idea that growth rate‐dependent herbivory caused the unbalanced sex ratio in S. polaris has to be rejected. Possibly an interaction of niche differentiation between male and female willows, in combination with reindeer grazing, produced the observed female‐biased sex ratio, but the mechanism remains unclear. Article in Journal/Newspaper Polar willow Salix polaris Svalbard Wiley Online Library Svalbard Functional Ecology 16 5 649 656 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Summary For a long time, dioecious plants have been a model system for understanding the interactions between plants and herbivores. Differences in growth rate and, consequently, investment in defence between sexes may lead to skewed sex ratios due to differential herbivory. In this study we evaluated the applicability of this idea to polar willow ( Salix polaris ), which in the study site, Svalbard, displays a female‐biased sex ratio. Excluding reindeer for 3 years increased the abundance of male flowers in one of two vegetation types investigated. Growth rates differed only slightly between the sexes, with females investing more in inflorescences. The concentration of chemical defence compounds (phenolics and condensed tannins) did not differ between the sexes. On the basis of these findings, the idea that growth rate‐dependent herbivory caused the unbalanced sex ratio in S. polaris has to be rejected. Possibly an interaction of niche differentiation between male and female willows, in combination with reindeer grazing, produced the observed female‐biased sex ratio, but the mechanism remains unclear. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dormann, Carsten F. Skarpe, Christina |
spellingShingle |
Dormann, Carsten F. Skarpe, Christina Flowering, growth and defence in the two sexes: consequences of herbivore exclusion for Salix polaris |
author_facet |
Dormann, Carsten F. Skarpe, Christina |
author_sort |
Dormann, Carsten F. |
title |
Flowering, growth and defence in the two sexes: consequences of herbivore exclusion for Salix polaris |
title_short |
Flowering, growth and defence in the two sexes: consequences of herbivore exclusion for Salix polaris |
title_full |
Flowering, growth and defence in the two sexes: consequences of herbivore exclusion for Salix polaris |
title_fullStr |
Flowering, growth and defence in the two sexes: consequences of herbivore exclusion for Salix polaris |
title_full_unstemmed |
Flowering, growth and defence in the two sexes: consequences of herbivore exclusion for Salix polaris |
title_sort |
flowering, growth and defence in the two sexes: consequences of herbivore exclusion for salix polaris |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2435.2002.00662.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1365-2435.2002.00662.x https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2435.2002.00662.x |
geographic |
Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard |
genre |
Polar willow Salix polaris Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Polar willow Salix polaris Svalbard |
op_source |
Functional Ecology volume 16, issue 5, page 649-656 ISSN 0269-8463 1365-2435 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2435.2002.00662.x |
container_title |
Functional Ecology |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
649 |
op_container_end_page |
656 |
_version_ |
1800737056661438464 |