Plants respond differently to the identity of their neighbors, such as their sex and kinship, showing plasticity in their traits. However, how the functional traits of dioecious trees are shaped by the recognition of neighbors with different sex and kinship remains unknown. In this study, we set up an experiment with different kin/nonkin and inter/intrasexual combinations for a dioecious tree species, Diospyros morrisiana. The results showed that plants grew better with nonkin and intrasexual neighbors than with kin and intersexual neighbors. Kin combinations had significantly shorter root length in the resource-overlapping zone than nonkin combinations, suggesting that kin tended to reduce competition by adjusting their root distribution, especially among female siblings. Our study suggested that the seedling growth of D. morrisiana was affected by both the relatedness and sexual identity of neighboring plants. Further analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed that the root exudate composition of female seedlings differed from that of male seedlings. Root exudates may play important roles in sex competition in dioecious plants. This study indicates that sex-specific competition and kin recognition interact and co-shape the traits of D. morrisiana seedlings, while intrasexual and nonkin neighbors facilitate the growth of seedlings. Our study implies that kin- and sex-related interactions depend on different mechanisms, kin selection, and niche partitioning, respectively. These results are critical for understanding how species coexist and how traits are shaped in nature.

中文翻译：

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性竞争和亲属识别共同塑造了邻近的雌雄异株柿子树幼苗的性状

植物对邻居的身份有不同的反应，比如他们的性别和亲属关系，表现出他们的特征的可塑性。然而，雌雄异株树的功能特征是如何通过对不同性别和亲属关系的邻居的识别而形成的，仍然是未知的。在这项研究中，我们为雌雄异株的树种建立了一个具有不同亲属/非亲属和间/内性组合的实验，柿子. 结果表明，与非亲属和同性邻居相比，植物与亲属和异性邻居相比生长得更好。亲属组合在资源重叠区的根长度明显短于非亲属组合，这表明亲属倾向于通过调整其根分布来减少竞争，尤其是在女性兄弟姐妹中。我们的研究表明，D. morrisiana受到邻近植物的相关性和性别认同的影响。进一步通过气相色谱-质谱分析表明，雌性幼苗的根系分泌物成分与雄性幼苗不同。根系分泌物可能在雌雄异株植物的性竞争中发挥重要作用。这项研究表明，性别特异性竞争和亲属识别相互作用并共同塑造了人类的特征。D. morrisiana幼苗，而同性和非亲属邻居促进幼苗的生长。我们的研究表明，亲属和性别相关的相互作用分别取决于不同的机制、亲属选择和生态位划分。这些结果对于了解物种如何共存以及特征如何在自然界中形成至关重要。