asexual reproduction; biogeographic distribution; phenotypic sex ratio; sex expression; sexual dimorphism; sexual reproduction; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Plant Science
Abstract :
[en] Unisexual bryophytes provide excellent models to study the mechanisms that regulate the frequency of sexual versus asexual reproduction in plants, and their ecological and evolutionary implications. Here, we determined sex expression, phenotypic sex ratio, and individual shoot traits in 242 populations of the cosmopolitan moss Pseudoscleropodium purum spanning its whole distributional range. We tested whether niche differentiation, sex-specific differences in shoot size, and biogeographical history explained the spatial variation of reproductive traits. We observed high levels of sex expression and predominantly female-biased populations, although both traits showed high intraspecific variation among populations. Sex expression and sex ratio were partly explained by current macroscale environmental variation, with male shoots being less frequent at the higher end of the environmental gradients defined by the current distribution of the species. Female bias in population sex ratio was significantly lower in areas recolonized after the last glacial maximum (recent populations) than in glacial refugia (long-term persistent populations). We demonstrated that reproductive trait variation in perennial unisexual mosses is partially driven by macroscale and historical environmental variation. Based on our results, we hypothesize that sexual dimorphism in environmental tolerance and vegetative growth contribute to sex ratio bias over time, constraining the chances of sexual reproduction, especially in long-term persistent populations. Further studies combining genetic analyses and population monitoring should improve our understanding of the implications of the intraspecific variation in the frequency of sexual versus asexual reproduction in bryophyte population fitness and eco-evolutionary dynamics.
Boquete, María Teresa ; Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Sevilla, Spain
Varela, Zulema; Department of Functional Biology, CRETUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, Spain ; Global Change and Sustainablility Institute, cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
Fernández, José Angel; Department of Functional Biology, CRETUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, Spain
Calleja, Juan Antonio; Departamento de Biología (Botánica), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain ; Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global, Madrid, Spain
Branquinho, Cristina; Global Change and Sustainablility Institute, cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
Chilà, Antonina; Department of Functional Biology, CRETUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, Spain
Cronberg, Nils ; Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Cruz de Carvalho, Ricardo; Global Change and Sustainablility Institute, cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
Aleixo, Cristiana; Global Change and Sustainablility Institute, cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
Estébanez-Pérez, Belén; Departamento de Biología (Botánica), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Fernández-González, Verónica; Department of Functional Biology, CRETUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, Spain
Baselga, Andrés; Department of Zoology, Genetics and Physical Anthropology, CRETUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, Spain
Gómez-Rodríguez, Carola; Department of Functional Biology, CRETUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, Spain
González-Mancebo, Juana María; Department of Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology, Unit of Botany, Universidad de la Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
Leblond, Sebastien; UMS Patrinat (OFB, MNHN, CNRS), Paris, France
Martínez-Abaigar, Javier; Department of Agriculture and Food, Unit of Botany, Universidad de la Rioja, La Rioja, Spain
Medina, Nagore G.; Departamento de Biología (Botánica), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain ; Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global, Madrid, Spain
Núñez-Olivera, Encarnación; Department of Agriculture and Food, Unit of Plant Physiology, Universidad de la Rioja, La Rioja, Spain
Patiño, Jairo; Department of Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology, Unit of Botany, Universidad de la Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain ; Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (IPNA-CSIC), Tenerife, Spain
Retuerto, Rubén; Department of Functional Biology, CRETUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, Spain
Vázquez-Arias, Antón; Department of Functional Biology, CRETUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, Spain
Vanderpoorten, Alain ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Biologie, Ecologie et Evolution > Biologie de l'évolution et de la conservation - Unité aCREA-Ulg (Conseils et Recherches en Ecologie Appliquée)
Zechmeister, Harald G. ; Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Aboal, Jesús Ramón; Department of Functional Biology, CRETUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago, Spain
We are thankful to Bieito Rodríguez for sampling Azores Islands and to Alžběta Manukjanová for helping with the sampling in the Czech Republic. M.T. Boquete is supported by the Juan de la Cierva‐Incorporación program from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (IJC2018‐035018‐I). J. Patiño was funded by the Support provided by the MINECO through the Juan de la Cierva‐Incorporación program (IJCI‐ 2014‐19691), the European Union through a Marie Sklodowska‐Curie COFUND, Researchers' Night and Individual Fellowships Global (MSCA grant agreement No 747238, “UNISLAND”), and the MICINN through the Ramón y Cajal program (RYC‐2016‐20506). Z. Varela was supported by a postdoctoral research grant awarded by the Autonomous Government of Galicia (Spain). N. Cronberg was supported by Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate (BECC). J. Martínez‐Abaigar and E. Núñez‐Olivera were supported by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF/FEDER), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Project PGC2018‐093824‐B‐C42). R. Cruz de Carvalho was supported by a postdoctoral research grant from the project MedMossRoofs (PTDC/ATP‐ARP/5826/2014) funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal). C. Aleixo was supported by the FCT through a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/141822/2018).
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