Collaborative Research: RAPID: Genomic and phenotypic responses to hurricane-mediated selection in an invasive lizard: does epistasis constrain evolution?

这个项目将研究对极端天气事件的进化反应，并增加我们对遗传如何影响种群对选择的反应的理解。我们知道，飓风等极端天气事件可能会对野生种群产生长期的进化影响。然而，目前还没有关于基因组因素如何促进或阻碍这一进化的信息。该项目将专注于棕色蜥蜴(Anolis Sgrei)，这是一种在佛罗里达州广泛存在的入侵蜥蜴，原产于古巴。它将把2018年抽样的人口与飓风伊恩之后的人口进行比较。有关对日益强烈和频繁的灾难性天气的进化反应(或缺乏这种反应)的信息，将是我们理解野生种群对全球变化反应的关键组成部分。该项目还将对研究生和本科生进行实地方法以及形态和基因组以及数据分析方面的培训。之前的工作包括高质量的基因组、栖息地利用和棕色Anoles的形态数据。抽样覆盖了30个种群，分布在佛罗里达州的纬度范围内，并进入佐治亚州南部。根据之前的研究，假设选择的强度将与风速相关，因此更强的风将有利于更长的肢体。此外，对肢体长度选择的进化反应将受到大效应肢体长度基因座和棕色变态种群基因组背景之间的相互作用的强烈影响。具体地说，在拥有广泛杂交血统的种群中，对飓风介导的肢体长度选择的进化反应将较弱。以前的研究发现，在杂交群体中，肢体长度的其他大效应基因座与基因组背景之间存在上位性交互作用。由于这些基因组背景在佛罗里达州各地不同，这些影响应该在地理上有所不同。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will study evolutionary responses to extreme weather events and increase our understanding of how genetics influences a population’s response to selection. We know that extreme weather events such as hurricanes can have long-lasting, evolutionary effects on wild populations. However, no information exists about how genomic factors that might facilitate or impede that evolution.The project will focus on brown anoles (Anolis sagrei), a widespread invasive lizard in Florida that is native to Cuba. It will compare populations sampled in 2018 to those same populations following Hurricane Ian. Information on evolutionary responses (or lack thereof) to increasingly intense and frequent catastrophic weather will be a key component of our understanding of the response of wild populations to global change. The project will also train graduate and undergraduate students in field methods, as well as morphological and genomic and data analyses.Prior work consisted of high-quality genomic, habitat use, and morphological data from brown anoles. Sampling covered 30 populations distributed along the latitudinal extent of Florida and into southern Georgia. Guided by previous research, it is hypothesized that the strength of selection will be correlated with wind speeds, such that stronger winds will favor longer limbs. In addition, the evolutionary response to limb-length selection will be strongly affected by an interaction between a large-effect limb-length locus and the genomic background of brown anole populations. Specifically, there will be a weaker evolutionary response to hurricane-mediated selection on limb length in populations with extensive hybrid ancestry. Previous research found epistatic interactions between an otherwise large-effect locus for limb length and the genomic background for hybrid populations. Because these genomic backgrounds vary across Florida, these effects should vary geographically.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.