Dioecious

Dioecious refers to a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct male and female individual organisms or colonies, making it a term used in the field of biology. Dioecious is derived from the Greek dioecia, di meaning "two" and oikos meaning "house". This is in contrast to monoecious organisms, where both male and female reproductive organs can be found in the same individual.

Characteristics

Dioecious species have sex chromosomes which determine that an individual organism is either male or female. For example, in humans, males have one X and one Y chromosome (XY) and females have two X chromosomes (XX). However, not all dioecious species have sex chromosomes; some, such as the Nematode worm C. elegans, have environmental cues which determine sex.

Examples

Many plant species are dioecious, including members of the Cannabis genus and the Willow family. In these species, male and female flowers are found on separate plants. Some animal species are also dioecious, including most mammals, many fish, and some insects.

See Also

• Monoecious
• Hermaphrodite
• Sex determination and differentiation

References

Dioecious Resources
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