The study of sexually antagonistic (SA) traits remains largely limited to dioecious (separate sex), mobile animals. However, the occurrence of sexual conflict is restricted neither by breeding system (the mode of sexual reproduction, e.g. dioecy or hermaphroditism) nor by sessility. Here, we synthesize how variation in breeding system can affect the evolution and expression of intra- and inter-...

Caenorhabditis elegans is an androdioecious nematode composed of selfing hermaphrodites and rare males. A model of male maintenance demonstrates that selfing rates in hermaphrodites cannot be too high or else the frequency of males will be driven down to the rate of spontaneous nondisjunction of the X chromosome. After their outcrossing ability is assessed, males are found to skirt the frequenc...

Differences in breeding system are associated with correlated ecological and morphological changes in plants. In Ficus, dioecy and monoecy are strongly associated with different suites of traits (tree height, population density, fruiting frequency, pollinator dispersal ecology). Although approximately 30% of fig species are pollinated by multiple species of fig-pollinating wasps, it has been su...

Prospero Alpini was an Italian physician, botanist and scientist. Born in Marostica, the Republic of Venice, his youth he served Milanese army, but 1574 decided to study medicine at University Padova, where graduated 1578. After a short period as doctor Camposampiero (Padova, Italy), became personal Giorgio Emo, appointed consul Cairo Egypt. In this way, able devote himself botany. country, fro...

Reproductive systems are fundamental attributes for understanding life cycle and regeneration processes provide information about seed production genetic diversity. Analyses of reproductive strategies within communities their associations with functional groups can indicate how physical biological characteristics may influence the ecology such communities. The main goal was to determine if asso...

The optimal deployment of reproductive resources by hermaphrodites to male versus female function (i.e., their sex allocation) depends directly on opportunities for mating. If hermaphrodites occur among females, selection should favor those with a male-biased allocation because increased male allocation enhances siring success when eggs are abundant. Similarly, when hermaphrodites co-occur with...

Among the variety of reproductive mechanisms exhibited by living systems, one permutation--androdioecy (mixtures of males and hermaphrodites)--is distinguished by its rarity. Models of mating system evolution predict that androdioecy should be a brief stage between hermaphroditism and dioecy (separate males and females), or vice versa. Herein we report evidence of widespread and ancient androdi...

Podocarpus drouynianus and P. spinulosus are two unusual conifers restricted to southwestern and eastern Australia, respectively. The species are morphologically similar and genetically closely related to each other but rather distant from other members of the subgenus Foliolatus. Both species have retained ancestral podocarp characteristics such as dioecy, wind pollination, and large, animaldi...

Understanding the driving forces and molecular processes underlying dioecy and sex chromosome evolution, leading from hermaphroditism to the occurrence of male and female individuals, is of considerable interest in fundamental and applied research. The genus Phoenix, belonging to the Arecaceae family, consists uniquely of dioecious species. Phylogenetic data suggest that the genus Phoenix has d...