“What we're suggesting is these dioecious species may be among the most sensitive of all plants to climate change,” he said.

On an even broader scale, male and female plants support different soil microbe, insect and animal communities, so a reduction in one plant gender could impact the composition of those creature communities as well.

The study is particularly important for plants in the Southwest, because the region is already the hottest and driest in the nation and will only become even hotter and drier in the next few decades.

Native plants like juniper, cottonwood and willows are dioecious, Hultine said. The latter two are especially important because they are foundation species, producing and maintaining habitats that benefit many other organisms.

Also notable is the outsized role these types of plants play in riparian woodland communities in the Intermountain West — dioecious species make up 30 percent of all individual plants in riparian woodlands compared to 8 percent of all species worldwide, Hultine said.

A change in those plants, “could impact the kinds of species supported in riparian areas,” Hultine said.