Anolis cristatellus lizard in Rincon, Puerto Rico, November 22, 2018.
Christine Winchell/New York University via AP
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Christine Winchell/New York University via AP
Anolis cristatellus lizard in Rincon, Puerto Rico, November 22, 2018.
Christine Winchell/New York University via AP
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Lizards that once lived in forests but now lurk in urban areas have been genetically altered to survive urban life, a new study has found.
The Puerto Rican crested anole, a brown lizard with a bright orange throat fan, has grown special scales to better cling to smooth surfaces like walls and windows and evolved larger feet to run in open areas, scientists say.
“We’re watching evolution unfold,” said Christine Winchell, a professor of biology at New York University and lead author of the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
As urbanization increases worldwide, it’s important to understand how organisms adapt and how humans can design cities to support all species, Winchell said.
In the study, 96 Anolis cristatellus lizards were analyzed, comparing the genetic structure of the forest population with those living in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, as well as in the northern city of Arecibo and the western city of Mayaguez. Scientists have found that 33 genes in the lizard genome are repeatedly associated with urbanization.
“You can’t go near the smoking gun!” Wouter Halfwerk, an evolutionary ecologist and professor at Vrije University in Amsterdam, who was not involved in the study, said.
He said he was surprised that the scientists were able to identify such a clear adaptive genomic signature: “The ultimate goal in the field of urban adaptive evolution is to find evidence for heritable traits and their genomic architecture.”
Winchell said the lizards’ physical differences are reflected at the genomic level.
Anolis cristatellus lizard stands on a doorstep in Rincon, Puerto Rico, January 6, 2018.
Christine Winchell/New York University via AP
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Christine Winchell/New York University via AP
Anolis cristatellus lizard stands on a doorstep in Rincon, Puerto Rico, January 6, 2018.
Christine Winchell/New York University via AP
“If urban populations evolve with parallel physical and genomic changes, we can predict how populations will respond to urbanization based on genetic markers,” he said.
Larger limbs allow lizards to cross hot parking lots
Changes in these lizards, which have a lifespan of about 7 years, can be very rapid over 30 to 80 generations, allowing them to escape predators and survive in urban areas, Winchell added. Bigger limbs allow you to run faster in a hot parking lot, for example, and special ladders stick to much smoother surfaces than trees.
“They can’t sink their claws into it. … (Or) a squirrel on the back,” he noted.
For the study, the scientists chased dozens of lizards and caught them by hand or used fishing rods with small lassos to capture them.
“It takes some practice,” Winchell said.
Occasionally, people had to ask for permission to keep lizards from people’s homes.
Among Winchell’s favorite finds was the rare albino lizard. He also found an 8-inch (20-centimeter) specimen, which he nicknamed “Godzilla.”
The study focused on adult male lizards, so it is unclear whether or not females change in the same way as males, and at what stage in a lizard’s life the changes occur. produce.
Halfwerk, whose research has shown how frog species have changed their mating calls in urban areas, said scientists should next look for possible constraints on the evolutionary response and the relationship between morphology and behavior. connect.
“Ultimately, to take advantage of adaptive traits for survival, they must lead to higher reproduction,” he said.
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