Outbreeding and inbreeding strategies in herbaceous-shrubby communities in the Venezuelan Gran Sabana Plateau

Abstract Breeding system, sexual system, temporal variation in sex expression and herkogamy were evaluated in seven herbaceous-shrubby communities from the Gran Sabana Plateau, Venezuela. This analysis was conducted considering the life form, substrate type, succulence, carbon metabolism, nutritional relation, successional stage, pollination system specificity and endemism of plant species. Of the 348 plant species studied, 73.8 % were hermaphrodite, 16.9 % were monoecious and 9.2 % were dioecious. Plant sexual systems such as dichogamy and herkogamy were associated with life form, nutritional... Mehr ...