Data from: Express yourself: bold individuals induce enhanced morphological defences

Organisms display an impressive array of defence strategies in nature. Inducible defences (changes in morphology and/or behaviour within a prey's lifetime) allow prey to decrease vulnerability to predators and avoid unnecessary costs of expression. Many studies report considerable interindividual variation in the degree to which inducible defences are expressed, yet what underlies this variation is poorly understood. Here, we show that individuals differing in a key personality trait also differ in the magnitude of morphological defence expression. Crucian carp showing risky behaviours (bold individuals) expressed a significantly greater morphological defence response when exposed to a natural enemy when compared with shy individuals. Furthermore, we show that fish of different personality types differ in their behavioural plasticity, with shy fish exhibiting greater absolute plasticity than bold fish. Our data suggest that individuals with bold personalities may be able to compensate for their risk-prone behavioural type by expressing enhanced morphological defences.自然界中，生物展现出种类繁多且令人赞叹的防御策略。诱导防御（Inducible Defences）指猎物在自身生命周期内发生的形态或行为变化，这类防御机制可帮助猎物降低被捕食者侵袭的概率，同时避免防御表达带来的不必要成本。诸多研究表明，个体间在诱导防御的表达程度上存在显著差异，但该差异背后的内在驱动机制仍未得到充分阐释。本研究发现，在关键人格特质上存在差异的个体，其形态防御的表达强度也各不相同。当暴露于天敌环境时，表现出冒险行为的大胆型鲫（Crucian Carp）个体，其形态防御响应的强度显著高于害羞型个体。此外，本研究还证实不同人格类型的鱼类在行为可塑性上存在分化：害羞型个体的绝对行为可塑性显著高于大胆型个体。我们的研究数据表明，具备大胆人格特质的个体，或可通过强化形态防御的表达，来弥补自身冒险型行为模式所带来的生存风险。