Relationships among reproduction, growth rates, and protein heterozygosity in ponderosa pine.

Abstract

There are different schedules of male and female reproduction in Pinus ponderosa. The majority of cones are produced by the same few trees each year. There is a tradeoff between growth rate and female cone production but not pollen production. Differential female (but not male) cone production is associated with protein genotype. The variance of female reproductive effort declines with increasing protein heterozygosity.-from Authors