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

该研究项目调查了波多黎各安乐蜥蜴热适应的系统发育地理学。在波多黎各，姐妹物种在形态上相似，但在热生物学方面却存在差异，这表明热适应对于它们的进化非常重要。最近的模型预测，一些热带变温动物在气候变化期间将无法足够快地适应，因此面临灭绝。这项研究调查了导致当地适应的过程，并为未来研究人为气候变化导致的种群遗传学、迁徙和选择的变化提供了重要的遗传基线。通过将华盛顿大学和波多黎各大学的研究与本科生培训相结合，该提案为未来的科学家提供了学习现场生物学和分子遗传学技术的机会。本研究旨在通过结合生理实验和基因组技术，了解热适应与谱系分歧之间的关系。这项研究的目标是：（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系统发育和基因流动模式，以及（3）研究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，例如基因流动率、地理隔离和发散选择，这些过程产生并维持了当地的热适应种群。这项研究将利用下一代测序和新颖的分析方法来测试种群分化和局部适应的复杂模型，从而推动统计系统发育地理学和生态生理学领域的发展。通过研究新生谱系的热适应，结果将增加关于热带变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.