Collaborative Research: A Functional Perspective on Adaptive Radiation: Explaining Differences in the Adaptive Radiations of Mainland and Island Anolis Lizards

适应性辐射，即一个分支从祖先的形式多样化，产生适应于利用各种生态位的后代，已成为最近非常感兴趣的话题。加勒比海Anolis蜥蜴的进化辐射已经成为适应性辐射的教科书案例，表明独立的辐射可以汇聚在非常相似的适应性特征上。该项目扩展了这项工作，以问为什么在某些情况下，进化多样化会产生截然不同的结果。在大安的列斯群岛的每个岛屿上，都发生了进化辐射，产生了专门使用栖息地不同部分的物种(例如，树枝、草、树冠)。令人惊讶的是，进化在每个岛屿上都是独立发生的，产生了相同的栖息地专家。详细的分析表明，物种之间的解剖和栖息地利用之间存在着强烈的关系。例如，长腿物种出现在宽阔的表面上，而更多的树栖物种有更好的脚趾。功能研究一方面通过确定形态和功能执行能力之间的关系，另一方面通过确定执行能力与栖息地利用和行为之间的关系来解释这些关系。Anolis还在中美洲和南美洲大陆广泛辐射。尽管研究较少，但这些蜥蜴显然是以不同的方式进化的。大陆Anoles和岛屿Anoles一样多种多样，但大陆物种在解剖学上与岛屿物种不同。最引人注目的是，解剖和栖息地利用之间的关系在大陆和岛屿之间有根本的不同。PI将调查解剖和生态关系的差异是因为功能能力和生态之间的关系不同，还是因为解剖和功能能力之间的关系不同(或两者都有)。此外，PI将寻求解释岛屿蜥蜴和大陆蜥蜴之间解剖和表现关系的差异，重点是肌肉的生理特性。为实现这些目标而共同收集的数据将使私人投资机构能够解决为什么大陆无核生物的辐射方式与岛屿无核生物的辐射方式根本不同的问题。本科生，包括女性和来自代表性不足群体的个人，博士后研究员和外国合作者将接受独特的跨学科培训。PI将与哈佛自然历史博物馆合作，开发一个关于Anolis的展览，作为理解进化如何工作的模型系统。

Adaptive radiation, in which a clade diversifies from an ancestral form to produce descendants adapted to utilize a wide variety of ecological niches, has become a topic of great recent interest. The evolutionary radiation of Anolis lizards in the Caribbean has become a textbook case study of adaptive radiation, demonstrating that independent radiations can converge on very similar adaptive traits. This project expands this work to ask why in some cases evolutionary diversification yields very different results. On each island in the Greater Antilles, evolutionary radiation has occurred, producing species specialized to use different parts of the habitat (e.g., twigs, grass, canopy). Amazingly, evolution has occurred independently on each island, producing the same set of habitat specialists. Detailed analysis has indicated that strong relationships exist among species between anatomy and habitat use. Long-legged species occur on broad surfaces, for example, and more arboreal species have better developed toepads. Functional studies have explained these relationships by determining the relationship between morphology and functional performance capabilities, on one hand, and between performance abilities and habitat use and behavior, on the other. Anolis has also radiated widely in mainland Central and South America. Although less studied, these lizards have clearly evolved in different ways. Mainland anoles are as diverse among themselves as are island anoles, but the mainland species differ anatomically from the islands species. Most strikingly, the relationship between anatomy and habitat use differs fundamentally between mainland and island anoles.The PIs will investigate whether differences in the anatomy~ecology relationship result because the relationship between functional capabilities and ecology differ or because the relationship between anatomy and functional capabilities differs (or both). In addition, the PIs will seek explanations for the variation in anatomy~performance relationships between island and mainland lizards, focusing on the physiological properties of muscles. Jointly the data collected to address these goals will enable the PIs to address the question of why mainland anoles have radiated in fundamentally different ways than island anoles. Undergraduate students, including women and individuals from underrepresented groups, a postdoctoral fellow and foreign collaborators will receive unique interdisciplinary training. The PIs will work with the Harvard Museum of Natural History to develop an exhibit on Anolis as a model system for understanding how evolution works.