Am. J. Bot.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (4)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fuselier, L.
Right arrow Articles by McLetchie, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Fuselier, L.
Right arrow Articles by McLetchie, N.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Fuselier, L.
Right arrow Articles by McLetchie, N.
(American Journal of Botany. 2002;89:592-601.)
© 2002 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

Reproductive Biology

Maintenance of sexually dimorphic preadult traits in Marchantia inflexa (Marchantiacae)1

Linda Fuselier2 and Nicholas McLetchie

T. H. Morgan School of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, 101 Morgan Bldg., Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0225 USA

Marchantia inflexa, a dioecious thallose liverwort, is sexually dimorphic in clonal expansion traits. We used selection analyses to measure the magnitude and direction of selection on clonal fitness to uncover possible mechanisms for the maintenance of preadult sexually dimorphic characters. We planted replicates of genotypes of female and male M. inflexa in two light environments in a greenhouse and measured morphological and phenological characters associated with growth and asexual reproduction. Timing to onset of asexual reproduction and plant size early in development were under sex-specific selection in a low light environment. Additionally, females exhibited a sex-specific cost of plasticity in the timing of their onset of asexual reproduction in high light. Selection on asexual fitness tended to shift traits toward monomorphism rather than sexual dimorphism, whereas the expressed phenotype of females was congruent with patterns of selection acting on sexual fitness. We detected negative trade-offs between asexual and sexual fitness components in females in one light environment. Opposing selective forces acting on asexual and sexual fitness components may explain how sexual dimorphisms persist in the face of selection for monomorphism in the preadult phase.

Key Words: asexual reproduction • bryophytes • Marchantiacae • Marchantia inflexa • selection • sexual dimorphism • trade-offs




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Am. J. Bot.Home page
I. Bisang, J. Ehrlen, and L. Hedenas
Reproductive effort and costs of reproduction do not explain female-biased sex ratios in the moss Pseudocalliergon trifarium (Amblystegiaceae)
Am. J. Botany, September 1, 2006; 93(9): 1313 - 1319.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2002 by the Botanical Society of America, Inc.