NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Parallel evolution of lizards in urban heat islands: locomotor performance, muscle physiology, and gene regulation

该行动资助了2021财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。温度对动物的表现有普遍的影响，对野生动物和人类都有影响。由于城市地区往往比农村地区更热，这种现象被称为城市热岛效应，城市提供了一个研究动物如何适应和适应高温的机会。本研究通过运动系统的透镜，探讨了生活在城市中的冠变色蜥蜴相对于生活在波多黎各森林中的蜥蜴对高温的适应。研究员将比较城市和森林蜥蜴的跑步速度和肌肉性能与温度的关系，然后研究遗传变化对温度反应的差异。这项研究将加深我们对动物如何应对和适应气候变化期间预测的温度升高的理解。该研究员还将为K-12学生和被监禁的学生以及指导本科生开发教育材料。本项目将形态、运动和生理表型与凤头变色龙转录组的特征相关联，以检验细尺度肌肉生理学的适应性修饰是运动性能的热耐受性差异的基础这一假设。该研究系统由多个，独立派生的城市和森林种群的冠变色蜥蜴在波多黎各。运动性能将通过测量在一定温度范围内的冲刺速度以及已知影响蜥蜴冲刺速度的形态变量来评估。为了解开形态和生理从属性状对整个动物性能的贡献，研究员将测量在不同温度下为短跑提供动力的运动肌肉的内在收缩特性，以评估肌肉热敏感性对运动性能的影响。最后，肌肉转录组之间进行比较城市森林对和跨地区，以确定差异表达的基因和签名的选择，这是与温度依赖性的性能差异。这项工作将显着扩大我们目前的知识，城市环境如何修改复杂的表型在快速的时间尺度。在Campbell-Staton博士的指导下，该研究员将接受热生理学和转录组学方面的培训，并通过与本科生和其他学生的合作来提高指导和沟通技巧。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Temperature has a pervasive effect on animal performance and are of concern for both wildlife and humans. Because urban areas tend to be hotter than rural areas, a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect, cities provide an opportunity to study how animals acclimate and adapt to high temperatures. This research explores adaptation to high temperatures in crested anole lizards living in cities relative to lizards living in forests in Puerto Rico through the lens of the locomotor system. The Fellow will compare the relationship to temperature of running speeds and muscle performance in city and forest lizards, and then examine genetic changes which underlie differences in responses to temperature. This research will deepen our understanding of how animals respond and adapt to the increasing temperatures predicted during climate change. The Fellow will also develop educational materials for K-12 students and incarcerated students as well as mentoring undergraduates. This project associates morphological, locomotor, and physiological phenotypes with features of the crested anole transcriptome to test the hypothesis that adaptive modification of fine-scale muscle physiology underlies divergence in the thermal tolerance of locomotor performance. The study system consists of multiple, independently derived urban and forest populations of crested anole lizards in Puerto Rico. Locomotor performance will be assessed by measuring sprint speeds across a range of temperatures, as well as morphological variables that are known to influence sprint speed in lizards. To disentangle the contributions of morphological and physiological subordinate traits to whole animal performance, the Fellow will then measure the intrinsic contractile properties of the locomotor muscles powering sprinting across temperatures to assess the impact of muscle thermal sensitivity on locomotor performance. Finally, muscle transcriptomes will be compared between urban–forest pairs and across localities to identify differentially expressed genes and signatures of selection which are associated with differences in temperature-dependent performance. This work will significantly expand our current knowledge of how urban environments modify complex phenotypes on rapid timescales. Under the guidance of Dr. Campbell-Staton, the Fellow will receive training in thermal physiology and transcriptomics, and enhance mentorship and communication skills by working with undergraduates and other students.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.