Data from: The role of infectious disease in the evolution of females: evidence from anther-smut disease on a gynodioecious alpine carnation

In flowering plants, the evolution of females is widely hypothesized to be
the first step in the evolutionary pathway to separate male and female
sexes, or dioecy. Natural enemies have the potential to drive this
evolution if they preferentially attack hermaphrodites over females. We
studied sex-based differences in exposure to anther-smut (Microbotryum), a
sterilizing pollinator-transmitted disease, in Dianthus pavonius, a
gynodioecious perennial herb. We found that within a heavily diseased
population, females consistently had lower levels of Microbotryum spore
deposition relative to hermaphrodites and that this is difference was
driven by rapid floral closing in females following successful
pollination. We further show that this protective closing behavior is
frequency-dependent; females close faster when they are rare. These
results indicate that anther-smut disease is an important source of
selection for females, especially since we found in a common garden
experiment no evidence that females have any inherent fecundity advantages
over hermaphrodites. Finally, we show that among populations, those where
anther-smut is present have a significantly higher frequency of females
than those where the disease is absent. Taken together our results
indicate that anther-smut disease is likely an important biotic factor
driving the evolution and maintenance of females in this gynodioecious
species.