Long-term Sabbatical
Part 1: Sexual dimorphism of mating traits seems weaker in flowering plants than in animals, and more frequently involves greater exaggeration of female rather than male traits. Is there something different about sexual selection and the evolution of dimorphism in plants? To find out, I will create a database of dicliny (separate-sex flowers) and floral sexual dimorphism among angiosperm taxa, along with basic plant habit and biogeographic data, mapped onto the angiosperm phylogeny. Analysis of these data will reveal any phylogenetic patterns in the evolution of floral dimorphism and will open a window on plant-specific aspects of mating that affect sexual selection.
Part 2: Sexual allocation theory for hermaphroditic flowering plants has a strong foundation and abundant empirical support, but there is a missing half to the story. The overwhelming focus of research attention has been on shifts in allocation among populations or species in response to changes in selfing or fitness gains in relation to resource investment. The missing half is the question of whether equal male-female allocation is, as expected, the “default” for the angiosperm life cycle given its special features of the alternation of generations. I will collate and re-analyze data from published studies to extract information on the location of “baseline” sexual allocation and of any shifts along the continuum of sex allocation in flowering plants. This analysis will assess the adequacy of current theory.
Sexual dimorphism and sexual allocation in flowering plants: a synthesis of data
| PI(s): | Martin Burd (Monash University (AUSTRALIA)) |
| Start Date: | 1-Sep-2012 |
| End Date: | 31-Aug-2013 |
| Keywords: | sexual selection, ecology, evolutionary theory, database |
Part 1: Sexual dimorphism of mating traits seems weaker in flowering plants than in animals, and more frequently involves greater exaggeration of female rather than male traits. Is there something different about sexual selection and the evolution of dimorphism in plants? To find out, I will create a database of dicliny (separate-sex flowers) and floral sexual dimorphism among angiosperm taxa, along with basic plant habit and biogeographic data, mapped onto the angiosperm phylogeny. Analysis of these data will reveal any phylogenetic patterns in the evolution of floral dimorphism and will open a window on plant-specific aspects of mating that affect sexual selection.Part 2: Sexual allocation theory for hermaphroditic flowering plants has a strong foundation and abundant empirical support, but there is a missing half to the story. The overwhelming focus of research attention has been on shifts in allocation among populations or species in response to changes in selfing or fitness gains in relation to resource investment. The missing half is the question of whether equal male-female allocation is, as expected, the “default” for the angiosperm life cycle given its special features of the alternation of generations. I will collate and re-analyze data from published studies to extract information on the location of “baseline” sexual allocation and of any shifts along the continuum of sex allocation in flowering plants. This analysis will assess the adequacy of current theory.
Related products
Software and DatasetsPublications- Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds Burd, M. , C. T. Stayton, M. Shrestha, and A. G. Dyer. 2014. Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds. Proceedings of the Royal Scoiety of London B 281:2013ï2862.
- Flower colour and phylogeny along an altitudinal gradient in the Himalayas of Nepal. Shrestha, M., A. G. Dyer, P. Bhattarai, and M. Burd. 2014. Flower colour and phylogeny along an altitudinal gradient in the Himalayas of Nepal. Journal of Ecology 102:126â135.
- The colourful language of Australian flowers Burd, M. , C. T. Stayton, M. Shrestha, and A. G. Dyer. 2014. The colourful language of Australian flowers. Communicative and Integrative Biology 7:e28940.
- Evaluating the spectral discrimination capabilities of different pollinators and their effect on the evolution of flower colors Mani Shrestha, Adrian G. Dyer and Martin Burd. 2013, Evaluating the spectral discrimination capabilities of different pollinators and their effect on the evolution of flower colors, Communicative & Integrative Biology, volume 6, issue 3, pp. e24000
- Shades of red: bird-pollinated flowers target the specific colour discrimination abilities of avian vision Mani Shrestha, Adrian G. Dyer, Skye Boyd-Gerny, Bob B. M. Wong and Martin Burd. Shades of red: bird-pollinated flowers target the specific colour discrimination abilities of avian vision, New Phytologist, volume 198, issue 1, pp. 301-310
