Urban evolution in the Teiidae family: relationships between morphology, locomotion, and thermal physiology in lizards Found in Brazilian cities.

• Grant number: 23/17872-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: April 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Morphology of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Tiana Kohlsdorf
• Grantee: Danilo Camargo Fernandes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/14780-1 - Evo-Devo in dynamic environments: implications of climatic changes in the biodiversity, AP.TEM

Abstract

The field of urban evolution emerges as an area of extreme importance due to its significant contribution to assessing how native species cope with environmental changes, being paradoxical the scarcity of studies in this context. In particular, the lack of urban evolution studies involving terrestrial lizards stands out, emphasizing the urgent need for investigations in this field. This PhD project aims to investigate urban adaptations in the Teiidae lizard family through a four-unit research approach. The first unit aims to conduct a comprehensive literature review of the family's species, seeking to identify traits associated with survival in urban environments. From the second unit onwards, the focus shifts to the Ameiva ameiva species, which inhabits cities throughout Brazil. We plan to collect individuals in urban environments and adjacent areas in various cities within the Cerrado biome, with the goal of identifying morphological features in animals occupying cities, which could represent evidence of parallel evolution due to shared selective pressures among cities. The third unit aims to assess if there are functional implications in the observed morphological differences, especially in traits related to locomotion and thermal physiology. Laboratory experiments will be conducted to evaluate the locomotor performance and thermal responses of individuals captured in urban and non-urban areas of Ribeirão Preto. Finally, the fourth unit of the project intends to assess whether the observed functional differences are predominantly of genetic origin or also express developmental phenotypic plasticity. This will be done through the incubation of eggs from gravid females captured in Ribeirão Preto, followed by an analysis of locomotor and thermal performance in the hatchlings. Each female's broods will be divided, with half of the hatchlings incubated at temperatures equivalent to those recorded in urban environments and the other half corresponding to thermal regimes of non-urban environments, allowing estimation of developmental phenotypic plasticity due to the temperature of the egg. This integrative research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of urban adaptations in the Teiidae family, a common family in Brazilian cities with characteristics that are understudied in the context of urban adaptation in lizards.