Data from: The impact of personality, morphotype and shore-height on temperature-mediated behavioural responses in the beadlet anemone (Actinia equina)

1. Between-individual variation in behavioural phenotype, termed
personality, is an important determinant of how populations cope with
acute environmental fluctuation related to climate change. 2. Personality
in the beadlet sea anemone (Actinia equina) is linked to genetically
distinct morphotypes, which are associated with different heights on the
shore. In the intertidal zone, high-shore environments experience more
environmental fluctuation due to longer periods of exposure, and animals
adapted to live in these environments are predicted to deal more
effectively with environmental perturbation than their low-shore
counterparts. 3. We collected beadlet anemones of two different
morphotypes from three different shore-heights. We investigated variation
in two behaviours at three different temperatures and in a temporal
control treatment where the temperature was not changed: startle
response-time, the time it took an anemone to re-extend its tentacles
after a threatening stimulus, and immersion response-time, the time to
re-extend tentacles after simulated tidal immersion. These behaviours
reflect risk taking and allow individuals to be categorised as bold, shy
or intermediate based upon response-times. 4. Both behaviours showed
significant changes as the temperature increased. For immersion-response,
the morphotype associated with the low-shore lengthened response-times at
high temperatures. For startle-response, all animals lengthened their
response-times at high temperatures but animals collected from the
low-shore lengthened theirs to the greatest degree. At the individual
level, although control individuals exhibited temporal changes in their
response-times, a clear effect of temperature was present in both
behaviours. Shy and bold individuals became more intermediate at higher
temperatures in immersion-response (this effect was present to a lesser
degree in control individuals), while intermediate individuals raised
their response-times at higher temperatures for startle-response. 5. Given
that prolonged tentacle retraction reduces foraging opportunities and can
negatively impact respiratory efficiency, our data suggest that some
individuals within a single population of A.equina, particularly those
associated with the lower-shore, may exhibit less effective behavioural
responses to temperature-shifts than others. These findings demonstrate
that acute temperature changes influence risk-taking, and could have
profound short and long-term implications for survival in the face of
climate change. 16-Jun-2020

1. 个体间的行为表型差异被称为动物个性（personality），是种群应对气候变化相关的急性环境波动的重要决定因素。
2. 珠点海葵（beadlet sea anemone, Actinia equina）的动物个性与遗传分化的形态型相关，这些形态型与潮间带（intertidal zone）的不同潮高存在关联。在潮间带生境中，高潮区因暴露时间更长，环境波动更为剧烈，因此适应高潮区的个体相较于低潮区个体，被预测能更有效地应对环境扰动。
3. 本研究从三个不同潮高区域采集了两种不同形态型的珠点海葵。我们在三种不同温度条件以及一个温度恒定的时间对照处理下，探究了两种行为的差异：惊吓反应时长（startle response-time），即海葵受到威胁刺激后重新伸展触手所需的时间；以及浸没反应时长（immersion response-time），即模拟潮汐浸没后触手重新伸展的时间。上述行为反映了个体的冒险倾向，可根据反应时长将个体划分为大胆、害羞或中间型三类。
4. 两种行为均随温度升高发生显著变化。就浸没反应而言，与低潮区相关的形态型在高温环境下反应时长显著延长。就惊吓反应而言，所有个体在高温环境下的反应时长均有所延长，但低潮区个体的延长幅度最大。在个体层面，尽管对照个体的反应时长存在时间维度的变化，但两种行为均呈现出显著的温度效应。在浸没反应中，害羞型与大胆型个体在高温环境下的反应更趋近于中间型（该效应在对照个体中程度更弱）；而在惊吓反应中，中间型个体在高温环境下的反应时长会升高。
5. 鉴于触手长时间回缩会减少觅食机会并对呼吸效率产生负面影响，我们的数据表明，在Actinia equina（以下简称A. equina）的单个种群中，部分个体——尤其是与低潮区相关的个体——对温度变化的行为响应可能不如其他个体高效。本研究结果表明，急性温度变化会影响动物的冒险倾向，这可能对应对气候变化的种群生存产生深远的短期与长期影响。2020年6月16日