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

预测生命系统对生态系统改变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，更多的野生动物必须与城市景观带来的新奇和极端环境作斗争。城市化的一个主要后果是生态同质化，即地球仪上的城市环境彼此之间的相似性要比它们与邻近的未受干扰的环境之间的相似性更大。这种环境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取得成功？本研究探讨了进化机制，涉及适应城市热岛使用广泛的蜥蜴物种（Anolis cristatellus），独立殖民几个城市横跨波多黎各。这项研究将详细说明城市人口比森林人口表现出更大的耐热性的程度。 这项研究将在一系列温度下测量不同的性能特征。这些数据将被用来确定参与热适应的基因组，这些基因组在每个城市森林对中显示出较高的分歧。此外，还将为公众制作一系列音频纪录片，重点介绍人类活动塑造非人类物种生物学的各种方式。这种高风险高回报的研究利用了一种新的方法，可以大大提高我们对人类时间尺度上的遗传学基础热生理学和适应的理解。初步数据显示，这些殖民化事件中有三个与生物体，监管和遗传水平的选择签名有关。这表明在城市环境中驱动平行选择的候选机制。该研究将整合人口和生理基因组学，以确定对适应城市热岛重要的热-水表型的遗传基础。本研究将几种现代生理学方法整合到一个单一的实验设计中。该计划是在与代谢、呼吸和肺生理学相关的21个从属性状中同时进行热性能曲线的高通量定量。然后，这些群体将被检查的等位基因特异性表达的模式，以确定重复适应性调控进化的进化机制。比较不同的生理学，基因表达，遗传变异，以及它们在三个重点人群对进化的机制，将提供前所未有的见解适应性生理进化面对人类栖息地的改变。热生理学的局部适应性和可塑性驱动机制可能在新环境的殖民化、适应性差异和对环境扰动的恢复力方面发挥重要作用。该奖项反映了NSF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.