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 10x10 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...