Environmental drivers of femaleness of an inter-Andean monoecious shrub

Hetero-and conspecific interactions, nutrient availability,
climate, habitat heterogeneity and disturbances can generate variation
and spatial patterns of femaleness in plants. We assessed whether
year, site, plant size, plant density and canopy area of conspecific
neighbors influenced the expression and spatial aggregation of
femaleness in Croton aff. wagneri, a monoecious shrub from dry
shrublands of the inter-Andean valleys in Ecuador. We georeferenced in
two sites (1,700 and 1,400 m.a.s.l) in five 10´10 m plots, within each
site, the position of each Croton reproductive plant during first part
of flowering season in two years, and measured their height, length
and width. The femaleness index of each plant was determined by the
number of female and male buds and flowers. Plant density was
determined for each plot, along with the number of neighbors and the
summed canopy area of conspecific neighbors (at 1.0, 2.0, and 2.5 m
radius, and the five closest plants) from each focal plant. C...