Correlation between elemental biometric characteristics and sexual dimorphism in leaves of dioecious Acer barbinerve at different growth stages

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2023.0151

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Dioecious plants typically exhibit varying resource demands due to different reproductive costs. Gender disparities in the nutritional requirements of dioecious plants often result in sexual dimorphism during their life cycle. This study seeks to deepen our understanding of gender-related differences in plant resource needs by examining the performance patterns and characteristics of sexual dimorphism in dioecious plants across different reproductive costs and growth stages. We focus on Acer barbinerve, a dioecious plant native to the natural coniferous and broadleaf mixed forest in Jiaohe, Jilin, and assess the leaf elemental stoichiometric characteristics to measure sexual dimorphism among different sexes of A. barbinerve plants in this region. Our goal is to investigate sexual dimorphism in A. barbinerve across different growth stages and reproductive costs.

Methods Sixty male and female A. barbinerve individuals were selected from the sample plot and divided into three groups. Group I received no treatment, Group II had all buds removed at an early flower bud stage, and Group III had all flowers removed at the end of the flowering period. Leaves were collected at both flowering and fruiting stages, and a two-way ANOVA was conducted to determine the significance of differences in leaf elemental characteristics between male and female A. barbinerve under various reproductive costs.

Important findings Sex had significant effects on the contents of carbon (C), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg) and sulfur (S) in leaves at the flowering stage, as well as the contents of C, nitrogen (N), P, K, calcium (Ca), Mg, and S in leaves at the fruiting stage. During the flowering stage, the leaf C content and C:N, C:P, N:P of male plants in Groups II and III was significantly higher than that of female plants. Additionally, the contents of P, K, Mg, S in female plants were significantly higher than those in male plants. In Group I, the leaf C content and C:N, C:P, N:P of female plants was significantly higher than that of male plants, while the leaf N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S contents of male plants, were significantly higher than those of female plants. These results indicate that the elemental stoichiometry of male and female A. barbinerve leaves exhibits sexual dimorphism. Changes in reproductive cost and growth stage affect the occurrence of sexual dimorphism in dioecious plant.

Key words: sexual dimorphism, elemental stoichiometric characteristics, dioecious plants, reproductive cost

WANG Yi-Tong, Yeerjiang BAIKETUERHAN, LIAO Dan, WANG Juan. Correlation between elemental biometric characteristics and sexual dimorphism in leaves of dioecious Acer barbinerve at different growth stages[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2024, 48(6): 760-769.

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Figures/Tables 7

References 57

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性别 Sex	处理组 Treatment group	株数 Tree number		胸径 DBH (mm)		基径 BD (mm)
性别 Sex	处理组 Treatment group	开花期 Flowering period	结果期 Fruiting period	开花期 Flowering period	结果期 Fruiting period	开花期 Flowering period	结果期 Fruiting period
雌株 Female	I	24	22	19.80^a	23.01^a	25.39^a	31.73^a
	II	15	13	21.66^a	20.83^a	30.36^a	33.47^a
	III	21	21	23.77^a	24.03^a	30.14^a	36.68^a
雄株 Male	I	13	7	17.09^a	17.31^a	21.46^a	25.52^a
	II	13	13	19.35^a	19.59^a	27.18^a	29.48^a
	III	15	13	20.56^a	21.58^a	26.37^a	31.32^a

性别 Sex	处理组 Treatment group	株数 Tree number		胸径 DBH (mm)		基径 BD (mm)
性别 Sex	处理组 Treatment group	开花期 Flowering period	结果期 Fruiting period	开花期 Flowering period	结果期 Fruiting period	开花期 Flowering period	结果期 Fruiting period
雌株 Female	I	24	22	19.80^a	23.01^a	25.39^a	31.73^a
	II	15	13	21.66^a	20.83^a	30.36^a	33.47^a
	III	21	21	23.77^a	24.03^a	30.14^a	36.68^a
雄株 Male	I	13	7	17.09^a	17.31^a	21.46^a	25.52^a
	II	13	13	19.35^a	19.59^a	27.18^a	29.48^a
	III	15	13	20.56^a	21.58^a	26.37^a	31.32^a

性别 Sex	处理组 Treatment group	花数 Number of flowers	花生物量 Flower biomass (g)	果数 Number of fruit	果生物量 Fruit biomass (g)
雌株 Female	I	10	0.08	3.72	0.29
	II	-	-	-	-
	III	12	0.05	-	-
雄株 Male	I	65	0.21	-	-
	II	-	-	-	-
	III	52	1.55	-	-

性别 Sex	处理组 Treatment group	花数 Number of flowers	花生物量 Flower biomass (g)	果数 Number of fruit	果生物量 Fruit biomass (g)
雌株 Female	I	10	0.08	3.72	0.29
	II	-	-	-	-
	III	12	0.05	-	-
雄株 Male	I	65	0.21	-	-
	II	-	-	-	-
	III	52	1.55	-	-

元素 Element	因子 Factor	开花期 Flowering period		结果期 Fruiting period
元素 Element	因子 Factor	F	p	F	p
C	G	18.127	0.485e-04^***	9.949	0.221e-02^**
	T	0.229	0.795	0.057	0.945
	G × T	0.345	0.709	0.388	0.680
N	G	0.457	0.501	4.273	0.042^*
	T	1.737	0.182	0.235	0.791
	G × T	0.504	0.606	1.414	0.249
P	G	6.871	0.010^*	13.876	0.346e-03^***
	T	0.307	0.719	0.318	0.729
	G × T	0.928	0.399	1.511	0.226
C:N	G	14.074	0.302e-03^***	9.794	0.238e-02^**
	T	0.068	0.934	0.135	0.874
	G × T	0.648	0.526	0.621	0.540
C:P	G	8.810	0.379e-02^**	14.990	0.209e-03^***
	T	0.186	0.830	0.250	0.779
	G × T	0.911	0.406	1.130	0.328
N:P	G	6.533	0.012^*	15.839	0.143e-03^***
	T	0.249	0.780	0.365	0.696
	G × T	0.904	0.408	1.333	0.269
K	G	11.152	0.001^**	8.973	0.357e-02^**
	T	0.038	0.963	0.003	0.997
	G × T	1.406	0.250	0.172	0.842
Ca	G	3.537	0.063	4.730	0.324e-01^*
	T	0.101	0.904	0.359	0.700
	G × T	0.580	0.562	1.580	0.212
Mg	G	17.322	0.693e-04^***	10.250	0.191e-02^**
	T	0.021	0.979	0.089	0.915
	G × T	0.532	0.589	0.462	0.631
S	G	17.042	7.850e-05^***	9.756	2.430e-03^**
	T	0.030	0.970	0.110	0.890
	G × T	0.477	0.622	0.554	0.577