A mammals-wide study found no support for Rensch’s rule, a commonly-tested ecological rule that posits that sexual size dimorphism is greater in larger species if males are larger, and in smaller species if females are larger.
Read now ahead of print!
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/738469
Xudong Huang et al. investigated the diurnal dynamics of #CarbonBalance of male and female mulberry (Morus alba) seedlings by examining photosynthetic rate, dark respiration rate, and #NonstructuralCarbohydrates.
#CarbonAllocation | #CircadianRhythm | #DioeciousPlant | #SexualDimorphism
Videlier and Sztepanacz re-analyse published data to show that sexual dimorphism may evolve as easily from indirect responses to sexually concordant selection as from direct responses to sexually antagonistic selection.
Read now ahead of print!
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/737019
Abstract The evolution of sexual dimorphism is predicted to resolve conflict that can arise from divergent evolutionary interests between sexes, enabling each sex to reach its fitness optimum. However, most of the genome is shared between sexes, which can lead to a genetic constraint for dimorphism evolution. Most studies of intersexual genetic constraints have focused on the effect of genetic correlations, rmf, for single traits. However, multivariate studies of the B matrix of intersexual genetic covariances suggest that sexual dimorphism may be more evolvable than inferred from rmf because of the potential for indirect responses to selection from correlated traits. To comprehensively address this question, we collected and reanalyzed published estimates of B using a recently developed approach to quantify the evolvability of sexual monomorphism and dimorphism. We find that across the traits and species we study, the evolvability of dimorphism is lower than that of monomorphism, but also that sexually concordant and antagonistic selection are almost equally capable of producing dimorphism. We also find that asymmetry in B would affect the response to selection more in females than in males. Our results show that sexual dimorphism is more evolvable than studies of rmf suggest and underscore that sexually antagonistic selection is not required for the evolution of sexual dimorphism.
【💡High Cited 2020-2022 】
Sexual differences and #SexRatios of dioecious plants under stressful environments
Research points:
1️⃣ #SexualDimorphism
2️⃣ sex-specific responses
3️⃣ sex ratio biases
#Dioecy | #StressTolerance | #Competition | #SpatialSegregation
In this new Historical Perspective, Ken S. Toyama describes how the original definition of Rensch's rule, which has been overlooked for decades, can impact the way we study sexual dimorphism. Read now ahead of print!
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/735583
#renschsRule #sexualDimorphism #dimorphism #historicalPerspective
Male and female #orangetip #butterflies.
#nature #naturephotography #wildlife #invertebrates #insects #lepidoptera #butterfly #sexualdimorphism #CountyDown #NorthernIreland @ukbutterflies
Today I learned [via the amazing Merlin Bird ID app] that this is a female #RedWingedBlackbird. While I've never really thought about it, I didn't know about their sexual dimorphism. RWBBs are increasingly hard to come by around here since we've seen so much wetland loss.
I took this photo in June, 2009 🤯 with a Fuji point and shoot, and am only just now paying attention to it. Goes to show, there's always much to learn despite how far you've come.
American Naturalist
Journal of Plant Ecology
PLOS Biology
Jonny Clark
JL Johnson 
Skip Lacaze