In woody plants with separate sexes, females tend to be smaller than males, probably because they invest more heavily in reproduction and thus have fewer resources with which to grow.
In this paper, we ask why males tend to be smaller in herbaceous species. We grew males and females of the plant Mercurialis annua but only allowed some to reproduce. We then measured their allocation of carbon and nitrogen to roots, shoots and reproduction.
Our results suggest that male herbs are smaller than female herbs because they need to allocate resources to roots needed to harvest nitrogen for pollen production.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
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