Dissertation Research: Adaptive responses to urbanization in the tropical lizard Anolis cristatellus

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This project will study the process of adaptation to urban environments by the tropical lizard, Anolis cristatellus. Urbanization involves drastic habitat modifications that very frequently has negative effects on biodiversity, but a few plants and animals have the ability to persist and thrive. Understanding how these organisms are adapting to urbanization is therefore necessary for predicting future changes to the biosphere. Prior research has shown that Anolis cristatellus has adapted to urban environment through changes in its morphology and physiology. This project will identify genes associated with that adaptation. the result will be new insights into the genetic basis of rapid contemporary adaptation in this and other species and will inform conservation decisions in a world increasingly transformed by human activity. The project will also train undergraduate students, including individuals from groups underrepresented in the sciences, and will create a citizen science project to catalogue urban wildlife in Puerto Rico. This research employs a genomic approach to identify previously unknown trait shifts related to urban adaptation. The project will use genomic techniques to target transcribed genes of lizards from urban and forest populations across its native range in Puerto Rico. Three common approaches to detect natural selection at the genetic level will be used: the measurement of between-population differentiation, the identification of selective sweeps, and the identification of gene regions with function-altering polymorphism. These methods will enable the identification of gene regions under selection, differential adaptive responses between urban and forest populations, and parallel adaptive responses between urban populations. In addition, the research will identify functional associations of gene regions under selection and will test for correlations between loci under selection and environmental differences between urban and natural habitats.