Community‐Wide Consequences of Sexual Dimorphism: Evidence from Nectar Microbes in Dioecious Plants

We examined how plant sex affected the community structure of nectar‐colonizing microbes. These microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, were more abundant in male flowers than in female flowers, with the identity of the dominant microbial species also affected by flower sex. Our results suggested that this sexual difference arose because female and male flowers differed in how they responded to visits by nectar‐feeding insects that bring microorganisms into nectar and how the history of the arrival of these microbes influenced the development of microbial communities in nectar. These photographs illustrate the article “Community‐wide consequences of sexual dimorphism: evidence from nectar microbes in dioecious plants” by Kaoru Tsuji and Tadashi Fukami published in Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.249