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SUMMARY Sex ratios in 35 inflorescence and plant counts of perennial, sexually dimorphic Umbelliferae vary from 0·96 to 87·33 times as many males as females. The ranges of ratios are similar
in dioecious and gynodioecious populations. In 10 populations in which both the inflorescences and plants were counted, the male/female ratios are approximately one in populations in which
the plants produce only one inflorescence per year and increase as the average number of inflorescences increases. The interpretation offered is that the sex ratio is approximately one until
reproduction begins, and in subsequent years increasingly male-biased ratios develop because sexual reproduction utilises more of the available resources of females than of males. Following
reproduction, male plants survive longer and grow more and so become predominant. In dioecious Angiosperms generally, male-biased ratios are characteristic of long-lived repeatedly
flowering species and may be partly due to differential post-reproductive growth. It is postulated that male preponderance is not directly selected for, but is a secondary consequence of
separate competition among males and among females during sexual reproduction. The seed set and fitness of total populations may actually decrease with the development of marked male
preponderance. SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS UNEQUAL ALLOCATION BETWEEN MALE VERSUS FEMALE REPRODUCTION CANNOT EXPLAIN EXTREME VEGETATIVE DIMORPHISM IN _AULAX_ SPECIES (CAPE
PROTEACEAE) Article Open access 26 January 2022 SEX-BIASED GENES AND METABOLITES EXPLAIN MORPHOLOGICALLY SEXUAL DIMORPHISM AND REPRODUCTIVE COSTS IN SALIX PARAPLESIA CATKINS Article Open
access 01 June 2021 IMPACT OF THE FEMALE AND HERMAPHRODITE FORMS OF _OPUNTIA ROBUSTA_ ON THE PLANT DEFENCE HYPOTHESIS Article Open access 08 June 2021 ARTICLE PDF REFERENCES * Bliss, C I.
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Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Botany Department, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand David G Lloyd Authors * David G Lloyd View author
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dimorphic umbelliferae. _Heredity_ 31, 239–249 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1973.79 Download citation * Received: 03 November 1972 * Issue Date: 01 October 1973 * DOI:
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