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An Application of the Sex Allocation Theory to Arisaema serratum
Author(s) -
Kakehashi Masayuki,
Kinoshita Ehchiro
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
plant species biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1442-1984
pISSN - 0913-557X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-1984.1990.tb00197.x
Subject(s) - biology , sex allocation , evolutionarily stable strategy , sex change , sex ratio , resource (disambiguation) , variable (mathematics) , matrix (chemical analysis) , distribution (mathematics) , resource allocation , demography , evolutionary biology , statistics , ecology , mathematics , computer science , sociology , population , computer network , mathematical analysis , materials science , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , composite material
The sex allocation theory based on size‐specific demography is applied to sex change phenomena exhibited by Arisaema serratum , which changes sex expression according to its size. In the evolutionary analysis where adopted strategy correlates with resource level, identifying equal resource level is very important. But directly measured size does not seem to represent the plant's real resource level perfectly. In the analysis presented here, we introduce a new variable that represents the resource level. According to the sex allocation theory, we calculated the transition matrix and other demographic parameters, the stable sex‐and‐size distribution, and reproductive values. The obtained results were: (1) reproductive values generally increased in accordance with size, but in a different manner for different sexes; (2) in the size class where different sex expressions were adopted, reproductive values for the equal resources were the same; and (3) plant individuals seemed to adopt evolutionarily stable strategies. The adaptive nature of the plant is further discussed.