DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Comparative Phylogeography and Thermal Ecology of Puerto Rican Anoles

本研究计画探讨来自波多黎各的阿诺利斯蜥蜴热适应的地理学。在波多黎各，姐妹种在形态上相似，但它们在热生物学上是不同的，这表明热适应对它们的进化很重要。最近的模型预测，一些热带外温动物在气候变化期间将无法足够快地适应，因此它们面临灭绝。这项研究调查的过程，导致当地的适应，并提供了一个重要的遗传基线，为未来的研究调查人口遗传学，迁移和选择的变化，由于人为气候变化。通过将研究与华盛顿大学和波多黎各大学的本科生培训相结合，这项建议为未来的科学家提供了学习野外生物学和分子遗传学技术的机会。本研究结合生理学实验和基因组学技术，旨在了解热适应与谱系分化的关系。本研究的目的是：（1）确定多个生理上不同的姐妹物种是如何进化的，（2）阐明跨越温度梯度的物种的地理分布和基因流动模式，（3）调查温度调节和自然选择之间的关系。该项目使用多物种比较框架来了解常见的人口统计过程，如基因流动率，地理隔离和多样化选择，这些过程产生并维持了当地的热适应种群。这项研究将通过利用下一代测序和新的分析方法来测试人口分化和当地适应的复杂模型，推进统计地理学和生态生理学领域。通过研究新生谱系的热适应，结果将增加热带外温动物热适应潜力的文献。

This research project investigates the phylogeography of thermal adaptation in Anolis lizards from Puerto Rico. On Puerto Rico, sister-species are morphologically similar but they are divergent in thermal biology, indicating that thermal adaptation has been important for their evolution. Recent models predict that some tropical ectotherms will be unable to adapt fast enough during climate change and therefore they face extinction. This research investigates the processes that lead to local adaptation and provides an important genetic baseline for future studies investigating changes in population genetics, migration, and selection due to anthropogenic climate change. By combining research with training of undergraduates at the University of Washington and the University of Puerto Rico, this proposal provides opportunities for future scientists to learn techniques in field biology and molecular genetics. By combining physiological experiments and genomic techniques, this research aims to understand the relationship between thermal adaptation and lineage divergence. The goals of this study are: (1) determine how multiple physiologically divergent sister-species evolved, (2) illuminate the phylogeographic and gene flow patterns of species that span thermal gradients, and (3) investigate the relationship between thermoregulation and natural selection. The project uses a multi-species comparative framework to understand the common demographic processes, such as rates of gene flow, geographic isolation, and divergent selection, that generate and maintain local thermally-adapted populations. This research will advance the fields of statistical phylogeography and ecophysiology by utilizing next-generation sequencing and novel analytical methods to test complex models of population divergence and local adaptation. By investigating thermal adaptation in nascent lineages, the results will add the growing literature on the potential for thermal adaptation in tropical ectotherms.