Data from: Stress-coping styles are associated with energy budgets and variability in energy management strategies in a capital breeder

Individuals vary in their stress-coping styles, characterized by specific
behavioural and physiological traits that influence their response to
stressors. Theory suggests that these traits are linked to underlying
metabolic mechanisms that affect energy management strategies. Despite the
potential of this powerful comparative approach, few studies have explored
how stress-coping styles relate to energy management strategies. Using
heart rate telemetry data from a large, capital-breeding pinniped, the
grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), we sought to investigate the relationship
that stress-coping styles may have on energy management strategies.
 Background energy expenditures, a proxy for metabolic rate and
other background processes, and daily energy expenditures were found to be
individually repeatable in grey seal mothers across successive breeding
seasons. Proactive individuals, associated with more bold and aggressive
phenotypes, exhibited consistently higher background and daily energy
expenditures than reactive females. However, reactive phenotypes were more
variable overall in energy management strategy, highlighting greater
flexibility in their energy management strategy. Our results highlight key
energetic trade-offs associated with stress-coping styles in grey seal
mothers during this short but critical life-history stage; proactive
individuals tended to exhibit a single pattern of energy management,
expending greater energy while incurring greater risk of overspending,
than those with a more reactive phenotype.