EAGER: Evolutionary mechanisms and repeatability of adaptive evolution in urban heat islands

预测生命系统对生态系统变化的反应需要一个理解进化变化的速度和模式的框架。由于城市化，城市现在容纳了大多数人口。因此，越来越多的野生动物必须在城市景观带来的新奇和极端环境中生存。城市化的一个主要后果是生态同质化，即全球的城市环境彼此之间的相似性比它们与相邻的未受干扰的环境之间的相似性更大。这种环境上的相似性引出了一个问题：成功殖民城市的物种是否遵循可预测的进化路径走向成功？本研究使用一种广泛分布的蜥蜴物种（Anolis cristatellus）来研究适应城市热岛的进化机制，这种蜥蜴已经独立地在波多黎各的几个城市定居。这项研究将详细说明城市人口比森林人口表现出更强的耐热性的程度。这项研究将在一定温度范围内测量不同的性能特征。这些数据将用于识别与热适应有关的基因组，这些基因组在每个城市森林对中显示出更高的差异。此外，还将为公众制作一系列音频纪录片，重点介绍人类活动对非人类物种的生物学影响的各种方式。这种高风险高回报的研究利用了一种新的方法，可以极大地促进我们对人类时间尺度上热生理和适应的遗传学基础的理解。初步数据表明，其中三个殖民化事件与有机体、调控和遗传水平上的选择特征有关。这表明在城市环境中驱动平行选择的候选机制。该研究将整合种群和生理基因组学，以确定对适应城市热岛重要的热水表型的遗传基础。这项研究将把几种现代生理学方法整合到一个单一的实验设计中。该计划旨在同时对与代谢、呼吸和肺生理相关的21个从属性状的热性能曲线进行高通量量化。然后，这些群体将被检查等位基因特异性表达模式，以确定重复适应性调节进化的进化机制。比较不同的生理、基因表达、遗传变异以及它们在三个焦点种群中进化的机制，将为面对人为栖息地改变的适应性生理进化提供前所未有的见解。驱动局部适应和热生理可塑性的机制可能在新环境的定植、适应分化和对环境扰动的恢复中发挥重要作用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Predicting the responses of living systems to ecosystem alteration requires a framework for understanding the pace and pattern of evolutionary change. Because of urbanization, cities now host the majority of the human population. As a result, more wildlife must contend with the novel and extreme environments posed by urban landscapes. A major consequence of urbanization is ecological homogenization, wherein urban environments across the globe are more similar to each other than they are to adjacent undisturbed surroundings. This environmental similarity begs the question: Do species that successfully colonize cities follow predictable evolutionary paths to success? This study examines evolutionary mechanisms involved in adaptation to urban heat islands using a widespread lizard species (Anolis cristatellus) that has independently colonized several cities across Puerto Rico. This research will detail the extent to which urban populations display greater heat tolerance than their forest counterparts. The study will measure diverse performance traits over a range of temperatures. Those data will be used to identify groups of genes involved in thermal acclimation that display elevated divergence within each urban-forest pair. Additionally, an audio documentary series for the general public will be produced which focuses on the various ways human activity shapes the biology of nonhuman species. This high risk-high reward research exploits a novel methodology that could greatly advance our understanding of the genetics underlying thermal physiology and adaptation on anthropogenic time scales. Preliminary data show that three of these colonization events are associated with signatures of selection at the organismal, regulatory, and genetic levels. This suggests candidate mechanisms that drive parallel selection in urban environments. The research will integrate population and physiological genomics to identify the genetic basis of thermo-hydric phenotypes important for adaptation to urban heat islands. This study will integrate several modern physiological approaches into a single experimental design. The plan is to conduct simultaneous high-throughput quantification of thermal performance curves across 21 subordinate traits associated with metabolic, respiratory and pulmonary physiology. These populations will then be examined for patterns of allele specific expression to identify evolutionary mechanisms of repeated adaptive regulatory evolution. Comparing divergent physiology, gene expression, genetic variation, and the mechanisms by which they have evolved across the three focal population pairs will provide unprecedented insights into adaptive physiological evolution in the face of anthropogenic habitat alteration. The mechanisms driving local adaptation and plasticity of thermal physiology are likely to play important roles in colonization of novel environments, adaptive divergence, and resilience to environmental perturbation.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.