Statistical analysis
Plant traits. For leaf thickness and herbivory rate, we performed
a generalized linear model (GLM) with Poisson distribution and link: log
due to our data not meeting the assumption of a normal distribution even
after transformation. In the case of the leaf water content, we
performed a GLM with normal distribution. In the three cases, the effect
of sex (male and female), time, and their interaction were included in
the model as fixed factors. Finally, for sex-ratio, frequencies ofB. cordata were compared to a null model (1:1 male-female ratio)
by using a 𝛘2 test.
Arthropod traits. Abundance was calculated by tree and by time;
however, our data did not meet the assumptions of normality, then we
performed a GLM with a Poisson distribution and a log-link function. We
treated the effect of sex (male and female), time, and their interaction
as fixed factors.
For the diversity parameters, we first estimated sampling completeness
estimates using the iNext website (Hsieh et al. 2016). We evaluated the
effect of plant sex on the arthropod community. To evaluate the
richness, diversity, and evenness of the community of adult arthropods
between plant sex (male or female), we used the Hill number
(0D , 1D , and2D ). The diversity of order 0
(0D ) correspond to the richness of observed
species, order 1 (1D ) corresponds to the
exponential of the Shannon-Wiener entropy index (H ’), and order 2
(2D ) is the diversity of the most dominant
species, which is equivalent to the inverse of the Simpson dominance
index (Jost 2006, Sanjuan-Trejo et al. 2021). Similarity among plants
and sex was estimated by using Jaccard’s coefficient indices. We
assigned functional groups by categorizing the species into guilds
(herbivores, carnivores, and detritivores) based on literature and field
observations. We used a t -test to compare the richness of species
in the guilds per plant sex per collection time, but in case our
data did not meet the assumptions of normal distribution we performed a
Wilcoxon rank test.