In hermaphroditic plants, female reproductive success often varies among different positions within an inflorescence. However, few studies have evaluated the relative importance of underlying causes such as pollen limitation, resource limitation or architectural effect, and few have compared male allocation. During a 2-year investigation, we found that female reproductive success of an acropeta...

Reproductive allocation is a key process in the plant life cycle and aquatic plants exhibit great diversity in their reproductive systems. In the present study, we conduct a field investigation of three aquatic macrophytes: Stuckenia pectinata, Myriophyllum spicatum, and Potamogeton perfoliatus. Our results showed that widespread species, including S. pectinata and M. spicatum had greater plast...

Hypoponera opacior exhibits alternative reproductive morphs in both sexes The ant associated with distinct sexual behaviours. Our long-term study reports strong seasonality in sexual production with two separated mating seasons in early and late summer. Alate reproductives emerge in June, swarm during the monsoon season and establish new colonies independently. In contrast, wingless reproductiv...

The allocation of resources to male and female progeny is a major component of the reproductive strategies of all sexual plants and animals. Over the past 30 years there has been intensive theoretical and experimental investigation of how natural selection moulds the sex ratio. Here, we discuss recent exciting developments and new applications of sex allocation theory and highlight some unresol...

Trade-offs in sex resource allocation are commonly inferred from a negative correlation between male and female reproduction. We found that for three California oak species, aboveground annual net productivity (ANP) differences among individuals were primarily correlated with water availability and soil fertility. Reproductive biomass increased with ANP, but the relative allocation to reproduct...

To maximize long-term average reproductive success, individuals can diversify the phenotypes of offspring produced within a reproductive event by displaying the 'coin-flipping' tactic. Wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) females have been reported to adopt this tactic. However, whether the magnitude of developmental plasticity within a litter depends on stochasticity in food resources has not been ye...

Somatic deterioration in ageing animals may arise from allocation of resources to reproduction at the expense of repair and maintenance. Thus, accumulated reproductive effort is likely to progressively limit the expression of sexual ornaments at older ages. We analysed the effect of age and reproductive effort on the sexual attractiveness (foot colour) of male blue-footed boobies. Using a long-...