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Climate change perils for dioecious plant species

Nature Plants volume 2, Article number: 16109 (2016) Cite this article

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Abstract

Climate change, particularly increased aridity, poses a significant threat to plants and the biotic communities they support. Dioecious species may be especially vulnerable to climate change given that they often exhibit spatial segregation of the sexes, reinforced by physiological and morphological specialization of each sex to different microhabitats. In dimorphic species, the overexpression of a trait by one gender versus the other may become suppressed in future climates. Data suggest that males will generally be less sensitive to increased aridity than co-occurring females and, consequently, extreme male-biased sex ratios are possible in a significant number of populations. The effects of male-biased sex ratios are likely to cascade to dependent community members, especially those that are specialized on one sex.

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Figure 1: The ratio of male to female leaf stomatal conductance (g), net carbon assimilation (A) and measurements of productivity.
Figure 2: Expected relationship between changing sex ratios (Δ) and the rate of climate change combined with population generation time.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support was provided by the National Science Foundation's MacroSystems Biology Program (award nos 1340852 to K.C.G. and T.G.W., 1340856 to K.R.H.) and an MRI Award (DBI-1126840 to T.G.W.) to establish the Southwest Experimental Garden Array (SEGA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Research, Conservation and Collections, Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, 85008, Arizona, USA

    Kevin R. Hultine

  2. School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, 86011, Arizona, USA

    Kevin C. Grady

  3. US Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, Flagstaff, 86011, Arizona, USA

    Troy E. Wood

  4. Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research and Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, 86011, Arizona, USA

    Stephen M. Shuster & Thomas G. Whitham

  5. Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, 13210, New York, USA

    John C. Stella

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Contributions

K.R.H. originally formulated the idea for the manuscript, conducted the literature review on dioecy patterns of gas exchange and growth, and wrote the text for the main body of the manuscript and Box 1. K.C.G. wrote the text for Box 2 and conducted the literature review that supported the figures in Box 2. All of the authors provided comprehensive editorial input throughout the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kevin R. Hultine.

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Supplementary information

Supplemental Table 1

Source of data presented in Figure 1a showing differences in stomatal conductance (g) between male and female plants of dioecious species. The column labeled “M:F Control” is the ratio of stomatal conductance under control (i.e. high soil water and normal temperature) conditions, and “M:F Treatment” is the ratio of g when either a drought or temperature warming experiment was applied. (XLSX 14 kb)

Supplemental Table 2

Source of data presented in Figure 1b showing differences in net photosynthesis (A) between male and female plants of dioecious species. The column labeled “M:F Control” is the ratio of photosynthesis rates under control (i.e. high soil water and normal temperature) conditions, and “M:F Treatment” is the ratio of A when either a drought or temperature warming experiment was applied. (XLSX 15 kb)

Supplemental Table 3

Source of data presented in Figure 1c showing differences in growth rates between male and female plants of dioecious species. The column labeled “M:F Control” is the ratio of growth rates under control (i.e. high soil water and normal temperature) conditions, and “M:F Treatment” is the ratio of growth when either a drought or temperature warming experiment was applied. (XLSX 17 kb)

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Hultine, K., Grady, K., Wood, T. et al. Climate change perils for dioecious plant species. Nature Plants 2, 16109 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2016.109

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