Fig. 3

Maternal mRNA abundance of candidate target genes compared between carnivorous and herbivorous species. Comparisons of maternal mRNA abundance for candidate target genes between carnivorous and herbivorous species within each lake. The black and grey enclosed boxes, respectively, indicate piscivorous and invertebrate feeder, whereas other coloured boxes indicate herbivorous species in each lake. Asterisks above box plots indicate significantly elevated expression (P < 0.05) compared to the plots matching the colour of the asterisks. The middle line represents the median and boxes’ lower and upper limits indicate the 25/75 percentiles for each plot