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

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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.