Data from: Fitness consequences of boldness in juvenile and adult largemouth bass

To date, most studies investigating the relationship between personality traits and fitness have focused on a single measure of fitness (such as survival) at a specific life stage. However, many personality traits likely have multiple effects on fitness, potentially operating across different functional contexts and stages of development. Here, we address the fitness consequences of boldness, under seminatural conditions, across life stages and functional contexts in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Specifically, we report the effect of boldness on (1) juvenile survivorship in an outdoor pond containing natural prey and predators and (2) adult reproductive success in three outdoor ponds across three reproductive seasons (years). Juvenile survival was negatively affected by boldness, with bolder juveniles having a lower probability of survival than shyer juveniles. In contrast, bolder adult male bass had greater reproductive success than their shyer male counterparts. Female reproductive success was not affected by boldness. These findings demonstrate that boldness can affect fitness differently across life stages. Further, boldness was highly consistent across years and significantly heritable, which suggests that boldness has a genetic component. Thus, our results support theory suggesting that fitness trade-offs across life stages may contribute to the maintenance of personality variation within populations.迄今为止，大多数探讨人格特质与适合度（fitness）之间关联的研究，均聚焦于特定生命阶段内的单一适合度指标（如存活率）。然而，诸多人格特质或许会对适合度产生多重影响，且可能在不同功能情境与发育阶段中发挥作用。本研究以大口黑鲈（*Micropterus salmoides*）为研究对象，在半自然条件下探讨了大胆性（boldness）在不同生命阶段与功能情境下对适合度的效应。具体而言，本研究报道了大胆性对两类指标的影响：(1) 含有天然猎物与捕食者的室外池塘中幼体的存活率；(2) 三个繁殖季（年份）内3个室外池塘中成体的繁殖成功率。研究结果显示，大胆性对幼体存活率存在负向影响：相较于羞怯幼体，更大胆的幼体存活概率更低。与之相反，更大胆的成年雄性大口黑鲈，其繁殖成功率要高于羞怯的雄性个体。而雌性个体的繁殖成功率则不受大胆性的影响。上述发现表明，大胆性对适合度的影响会因生命阶段不同而存在差异。此外，大胆性在不同年份间具有高度一致性，且存在显著的遗传力，这表明大胆性具有遗传基础。因此，本研究结果支持相关理论假说：生命阶段间的适合度权衡，或许有助于维持种群内的人格特质变异。