High abundance of dioecious plants in a tropical coastal vegetation

We examined the frequency of hermaphroditic, monoecious, and dioecious species of angiosperms in restinga (sandy coastal plain) vegetation in SE Brazil. The study site was a vegetation mosaic comprising nine plant formations, ranging from open types to forest. Dioecy (14% of 566 species) was similar to other tropical vegetations and strongly associated with woodiness and entomophily. However, more interestingly, there was an exceptionally high percentage (35%) of dioecious species among the dominant woody plants. This pattern has not been previously reported, and we discuss the extent to which it is ecologically driven. We argue that the high abundance of dioecious plants in this resource-poor environment can be attributed to ecological traits related to long-distance dispersal, ecological vigor, and possibly, vegetative reproduction.