title: Sex-specific responses to climate change in plants alter population sex ratio and performance.
abstract: Males and females are ecologically distinct in many species, but whether responses to climate change are sex-specific is unknown. We document sex-specific responses to climate change in the plant Valeriana edulis (valerian) over four decades and across its 1800-meter elevation range. Increased elevation was associated with increased water availability and female frequency, likely owing to sex-specific water use efficiency and survival. Recent aridification caused male frequency to move upslope at 175 meters per decade, a rate of trait shift outpacing reported species' range shifts by an order of magnitude. This increase in male frequency reduced pollen limitation and increased seedset. Coupled with previous studies reporting sex-specific arthropod communities, these results underscore the importance of ecological differences between the sexes in mediating biological responses to climate change.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2525, USA. Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, CO 81224, USA. william.petry@usys.ethz.ch.
authors.forename: William K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Petry
authors.affiliation: Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, CO 81224, USA.
authors.forename: Judith D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Soule
authors.affiliation: Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, CO 81224, USA. Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Høegh-Guldbergs Gade 6B, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Amy M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Iler
authors.affiliation: Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, CO 81224, USA. Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chicas-Mosier
authors.affiliation: Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, CO 81224, USA. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Inouye
authors.affiliation: Department of BioSciences, Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
authors.forename: Tom E X
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2525, USA. Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, CO 81224, USA. william.petry@usys.ethz.ch.
authors.forename: Kailen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Mooney
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology; D057231:Climate Change; D011058:Pollen / Q000502:physiology; D012639:Seeds / Q000502:physiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012744:Sex Ratio; D014632:Valerian / Q000502:physiology*