Sexual Systems of Plants in a Brazilian Montane Forest

Abstract

In this study, vegetation reproduction has been investigated in order to understand aspects of speciation, structuring and composition of plant communities. Thus, we sought to characterize the frequency of sexual systems from species recorded in seed rain occurring in a tropical rainforest (Atlantic Forest) in Caparaó National Park, Espírito Santo State, Brazil. We collected the seed rain for twelve months, classified and recorded the species for: sexual system; pollination and dispersion syndrome; and fruit type. Then we measured the correlation between these attributes through correspondence analysis. Regarding sexual systems, 71% were hermaphrodites, 13% dioecious, and 11% monoecious. Hermaphrodites are best associated with pollination, dispersion and fruit types, represented by 65% of data variance. This study may contribute to elaborating management and conservation programs taking into account the interaction of plants with the local fauna.

Sexual and reproductive systems of woody species in vereda are distributed according to the life form and habitat occurrence

“…Here, we investigate for the first time the sexual and reproductive systems of trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs Perini et al 2019). We found, according to our initial hypothesis, that the distribution pattern of sexual and reproductive systems among habitat and woody species habit differed.…”

“…Most hermaphrodite species occurred in the open areas of the vereda, an environment more connected to human intervention, where the plant-pollinator interaction is more susceptible. These species tend to adapt better to environments under stressful conditions, such as changes in the water table and anthropogenic interference, being capable to colonise different environments and remain in altered areas, as they do not depend on pollinating agents (Perini et al 2019). Veredas in the region are undergoing changes in the landscape due to the water table lowering, causing the expansion of species from drier areas of the Cerrado, interfering with the floristic composition and providing the colonisation of the environment by species that tend to better tolerate these conditions (Nunes et al 2022).…”

“…In tropical forests, the distribution of sexual and reproductive systems in an ecosystem depends on several factors, such as habit, habitat of individuals, their life cycle, floral biology traits and presence or absence of the pollinator (Ramires & Brito 1990;Kress & Beach 1994;Jaimes & Ram ırez 1999;Machado et al 2006;Alonso et al 2007;Amorim et al 2011;Busch & Delph 2012;Wolowski et al 2013;Peng et al 2014;Perini et al 2019). Dioecy is more common in tree habit, species with a long life cycle and biotic or abiotic pollinating agents dependent (Bawa 1980).…”

“…2014; Perini et al . 2019). Dioecy is more common in tree habit, species with a long life cycle and biotic or abiotic pollinating agents dependent (Bawa 1980).…”

Global distribution and evolutionary transitions of angiosperm sexual systems

“…A global data set of angiosperm sexual systems was compiled from published floras and trait databases, including efloras (http://efloras.org/), Flora of China (Wu et al 1994–2013), Tree of Sex (Ashman et al, 2014), Plant Trait Database (TRY 2012), Botanical Information and Ecology Network (BIEN, Maitner et al 2018), Flora Republicae Popularis Sinicae (126 issues of 80 volumes), Seeds of Woody Plants in China and others. We also compiled information from recent publications (Goldberg et al, 2017; Machado et al, 2006; Perini et al, 2019; Sabath et al, 2016). Species with conflicting records of their sexual systems in different sources were double‐checked and corrected.…”