Notes on floral traits and gender expression of Dryas octopetala under a simulated environmental change

• Main Authors: Naoya Wada, Hiroshi Kanda
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Biosphere Science, Faculty of Science, Toyama University 2000
• Subjects: Arctic; Dryas octopetala; femaleness; gender expression; OTC; Svalbard; Polar bioscience
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=6154; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00006154/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=6154&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

This study presents empirical data for variations of floral traits and gender expression in Arctic Dryas octopetala L. under a simulated environmental amelioration using an open-top chamber (OTC). The short-term experiment (from 8 August 1997 to 2 August 1998) demonstrated in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard that dry weights of gynoecium, peduncle, and hermaphrodite flowers were significantly heavier, whereas petal and androecium weight were significantly lighter in OTC-manipulated shoots than in controls. As a result, "femaleness" (dry-weight allocation to the female organs) showed a significantly higher value in OTC-manipulated shoots as compared to the controls. Moreover, femaleness was significantly positively correlated with flower weight both in OTC-manipulated and control shoots. Thus, it was experimentally demonstrated that the gender as a reproductive effort of D. octopetala flowers changed from male- to female-biased expression under a less stressful condition.