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Does Thermal Stress Cause Females Of The Plant Bryum Argenteum To Manipulate The Sex Ratios Of Their Offspring?, Elisha Rhodes, Lloyd Stark
Does Thermal Stress Cause Females Of The Plant Bryum Argenteum To Manipulate The Sex Ratios Of Their Offspring?, Elisha Rhodes, Lloyd Stark
Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)
About half of all moss taxa exhibit female-biased sex ratios, and bryophyte male rarity remains largely unexplained. One possible explanation is differential stress tolerance of spores due to maternal sporophyte manipulation during stress. To test this hypothesis, sporophytes of the species Bryum argenteum were subjected to thermal stress and observed for growth abnormalities and sporophyte abortions. Data display a correlation between increased temperature and increased sporophyte abortions as well as increased time to complete meiosis, possibly indicating decreased fitness. Continued global warming may create more stressful environments for sporophytes resulting in the elimination of males from local populations.