How does reproductive strategy influence demography? A case study in the tropical, unisexual epiphyllous moss Crossomitrium patrisiae.

Premise Of The Study: Leaf-inhabiting organisms offer an experimentally tractable model system within which to investigate the influence of alternative reproductive strategies on plant metapopulation dynamics. We conducted a field study to determine whether (1) threshold colony sizes exist for the onset of sexual and asexual expression, and (2) alternative reproductive strategies differentially influence within-patch dynamics of the tropical pleurocarpous moss Crossomitrium patrisiae.

Methods: The growth, reproduction, and fate of 2101 colonies of C.