Defoliation is the removal, naturally or intentionally, of plant material above the ground while integrated physiological units are the short shots containing an apex cyme in a monoecious plant (Wang et al. 2016). Resource allocation is a complex process in individual plants; plants that are monoecious in nature have the ability to allocate resources separately to the male and female functions efficiently compared to the hermaphrodites. This makes monoecious plants more effective against any form of stress like leaf herbivory. Several studies have been done to try and ascertain the effect of herbivory on male and female characteristics of monoecious plants. The results of these experiments have however shown limited effect (Narbona & Dirzo, 2010). This paper will study the effect of defoliation on resource allocation. The study involved sixty Croton tuberous plants in their reproductive stage of the same size. All the selected plants were tagged. The plants were then randomly assigned to three equal groups. In the first group, the plants were treated to 25% defoliation where 25% of the total number of leaves was removed. The second group of plants had 75% defoliated while the third group was 0% defoliated. The last group was taken as the control in the experiment. The level of defoliation percentages was chosen in relation to the natural levels of defoliation in the area (Narbona & Dirzo, 2010). The result of the defoliation was that the defoliated plants produced a lot more leaves than the control plants. The defoliated plants produced more leaves to compensate for tissue loss. Also, defoliated plants exhibited a decrease in the production of staminate flowers. The plants that had defoliated leaves (75%) exhibited lower production of staminate flowers than the group with 25% defoliated leaves. The study also showed that pistillate flower production and pollinator visitation were not affected by defoliation hence the conclusion that defoliation does not affect resource allocation on the male of female characteristics of a monoecious plant (Narbona & Dirzo, 2010).
References
Wang, L. L., Wang, B., Shang, N., & Liu, W. Z. (2016). Effects of experimental defoliation on resource allocation using integrated physiological units in the andromonoecious Camptotheca acuminata. South African Journal of Botany, 104, 47-54.
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Narbona, E., & Dirzo, R. (2010). Experimental defoliation affects the male but not the female reproductive performance of the tropical monoecious plant Croton suberosus (Euphorbiaceae). Annals of Botany, 106(2), 359-369.
