Data from: Maternal body condition influences magnitude of anti-predator response in offspring

Organisms exhibit phenotypic plasticity in response to environmental stressors, but there is large variation even within populations in the expression and magnitude of these responses. Maternal influence on egg size can alter offspring survival through advantages in growth and development. However, the relationship between maternal influence and variation in plastic responses to predation risk is unknown. We hypothesized that variation in the magnitude of plastic responses to predation risk between lineages (families) is at least partly due to maternal provisioning, and examined the relationship between maternal condition, egg provisioning, and magnitude of plastic response to perceived predation risk (by dragonfly larvae: Aeshna spp.) in Northern leopard frogs (Lithobates pipiens). Female frogs in better body condition tended to lay more (clutch size), larger (egg diameter) eggs. Tadpoles responded to predation risk by increasing relative tail depth and decreasing activity level; we found a positive relationship between morphological effect size (the increase in relative tail depth) and maternal body condition, but no relationship between behavioural effect size (decrease in activity level) and maternal body condition. These novel findings suggest that limitations imposed by maternal condition can constrain phenotypic variation, ultimately influencing the capacity of populations to respond to environmental change.