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MALE CAUSE OF DEATH. "Leucadendron xanthocomus. In contrast, the seed set and survival of females was not associated with display size. The ultimate cause of death in male plants appears to be the high maintenance cost of the abundant yellow non-photosynthetic display leaves that attract pollinators, but which cause considerable shading of photosynthetic leaves." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

SOCIAL IMPACT. “In 1348, the Black Death swept across Europe and killed nearly 50% of the population. Immediately prices for labor, livestock, and consumables skyrocketed and governments everywhere ground to a halt. England was no exception as King Edward III had the additional concern of paying for his military campaigns against France during the opening phase of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453).” https://lnkd.in/g5DRQJ8 View in LinkedIn

MALE REPRODUCTIVE COST. "A striking example involves Leucadendron xanthocomus in which males can produce up to 20 times more flowers than females. Bond and Maze (1999) found that the number of insect visits to male plants increased linearly with floral display size, but that increasing display size was associated with a higher probability of plant death." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

STRENGTHENED SECOND RESPONSE. “This might explain why, according to historical documents, medieval plague mortality declined steeply between the initial outbreak in 1347–1351 and the second outbreak in 1361 and why mortality levels remained lower in subsequent plague outbreaks throughout the medieval and early modern periods.” https://lnkd.in/gGtSd3Y View in LinkedIn

FLORAL MALE-MALE COMPETITION. "The larger floral displays of males in many animal-pollinated dioecious species are usually interpreted as resulting from male–male competition for mates, but few cases are known where this is associated with the reduced survival of male plants as a result of viability selection." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

FRAILTY REDUCTION. “In particular, given that reproductive-aged individuals with relatively high frailty (i.e. an individual's risk of death relative to other members of the population) were more likely to die during the Black Death than their age-peers with lower frailty, the epidemic might have affected genetic variation with respect to disease susceptibility or immune competence and thus, acted to reduce average levels of frailty in the surviving population.” https://lnkd.in/g2FqTm7 View in LinkedIn

FORM OVER FUNCTION? "Sexual selection is most obvious in animals when it favours the evolution of extravagant male displays that enhance mating success at the expense of reduced viability." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

NATURAL SELECTION. “By targeting frail people of all ages, and killing them by the hundreds of thousands within an extremely short period of time, the Black Death might have represented a strong force of natural selection and removed the weakest individuals on a very broad scale within Europe.” https://lnkd.in/g2FqTm7 View in LinkedIn

DIOECIOUS WORK-AROUNDS. "Comparative studies of animal-pollinated dioecious species indicate that they commonly possess flowers that are less showy than outcrossing hermaphrodites, with small flowers that are often white, pale yellow, or green in colour. Nevertheless, the aggregation of these flowers can result in large floral displays that often show sexual dimorphism in floral and inflorescence traits." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

HIGHER MALE COSTS. "In some wind-pollinated plants, male reproductive costs may match or exceed those of females because of the high investment in nitrogen-rich pollen." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn