RT Journal Article
T1 Differential growth rate, water-use efficiency and climate sensitivity between males and females of Ilex aquifolium in north-western Spain
A1 Sánchez Vilas, Julia
A1 Hernández-Alonso, Héctor
A1 Rozas, Vicente
A1 Retuerto Franco, José Carlos Rubén
K1 Dendroecology
K1 Dioecy
K1 Sexual dimorphism
K1 Tree growth
K1 Carbon isotope discrimination
K1 Water-use efficiency
AB Background and aimsDioecious plant species, i.e. those in which male and female functions are housed in different individuals, are particularly vulnerable to global environmental changes. For long-lived plant species, such as trees, long-term studies are imperative to understand how growth patterns and their sensitivity to climate variability affect the sexes differentially.MethodsHere, we explore long-term intersexual differences in wood traits, namely radial growth rates and water-use efficiency quantified as stable carbon isotope abundance of wood cellulose, and their climate sensitivity in Ilex aquifolium trees growing in a natural population in north-western Spain.Key resultsWe found that sex differences in secondary growth rates were variable over time, with males outperforming females in both radial growth rates and water-use efficiency in recent decades. Summer water stress significantly reduced the growth of female trees in the following growing season, whereas the growth of male trees was favoured primarily by cloudy and rainy conditions in the previous autumn and winter combined with low cloud cover and warm conditions in summer. Sex-dependent lagged correlations between radial growth and water availability were found, with a strong association between tree growth and cumulative water availability in females at 30 months and in males at 10 months.ConclusionsOverall, our results point to greater vulnerability of female trees to increasing drought, which could lead to sex-ratio biases threatening population viability in the future.
PB Oxford University Press
SN 0305-7364
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/42087
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/42087
LA eng
NO Sánchez-Vilas, J., Hernández-Alonso, H., Rozas, V. & Retuerto, R. 2025. Differential growth rate, water use efficiency and climate sensitivity between males and females of Ilex aquifolium in north-western Spain. Annals of Botany 135: 357-370. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae126
NO Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (grant BOS2002-00714).
DS Minerva
RD 5 jun 2026