Delgadillo et al., 2025. dataset_fuscus.xlsx

Through developmental plasticity, amphibian larvae cope with heterogeneity in ecological factors such as temperature, desiccation risk, and predation risk. However, our understanding of how they respond to fluctuations in complex environments is limited and primarily restricted to temperate species. Leptodactylus fuscus is a tropical anuran that constructs foam nests in excavated subterranean chambers, where embryos develop. Moreover, nest-dwelling larvae can enter developmental arrest until the chambers are flooded and tadpoles are washed off to a neighboring pond. Its breeding ponds are highly dynamic, and to understand how its larvae respond to multiple factors in complex environments, we experimentally exposed them to variations in temperature, water level, and predation risk. We found that tadpoles did not modulate developmental rates in response to any of the factors studied. At high temperatures, larvae achieved greater body mass, larger size, increased fat bodies, and improved locomotor performance.

In contrast, reduced water level negatively affected body mass, size, and snout length at metamorphs. The presence of predator cues had the least effect on tadpoles, only showing an antagonistic interaction with temperature on locomotor performance. Of all three ecological factors, temperature had the greatest (and positive) impact on growth, and the effects of each factor were predominantly additive or antagonistic. The reproductive mode of L. fuscus may have relaxed selection for plasticity in developmental rate, allowing its canalization. However, the limited capacity for developmental rate plasticity in response to temperature or desiccation risk could limit the species' ability to respond to future climate change scenarios of increased temperature and reduced hydroperiod.

Here, we present data obtained during the experiment on three different aspects of L. fuscus development: life history and lipid reserves (time and mass at metamorphosis and fat bodies), the morphology of metamorphs (we present data on each measure but also principal components derived from these measurements), and the locomotor performance of metamorphs.