Only recently have we begun to understand the ecological and evolutionary effects of urbanization on species, with studies revealing drastic impacts on community composition, gene flow, behaviour, morphology and physiology. However, our understanding of how adaptive evolution allows species to persist, and even thrive, in urban landscapes is still nascent. Here, we examine phenotypic, genomic and regulatory impacts of urbanization on a widespread lizard, the Puerto Rican crested anole (Anolis cristatellus). We find that urban lizards endure higher environmental temperatures and display greater heat tolerance than their forest counterparts. A single non-synonymous polymorphism within a protein synthesis gene (RARS) is associated with heat tolerance plasticity within urban heat islands and displays parallel signatures of selection in cities. Additionally, we identify groups of differentially expressed genes between habitats showing elevated genetic divergence in multiple urban–forest comparisons. These genes display evidence of adaptive regulatory evolution within cities and disproportionately cluster within regulatory modules associated with heat tolerance. This study provides evidence of temperature-mediated selection in urban heat islands with repeatable impacts on physiological evolution at multiple levels of biological hierarchy.

直到最近，我们才开始了解城市化对物种的生态和进化影响，研究揭示了对社区组成，基因流，行为，形态和生理的巨大影响。但是，我们对适应性进化如何使物种在城市景观中生存甚至繁荣的了解仍处于萌芽状态。在这里，我们研究了城市化对广泛的蜥蜴，波多黎各凤头anole（Anolis cristatellus）的表型，基因组和监管影响。我们发现城市蜥蜴比森林蜥蜴承受更高的环境温度并显示出更高的耐热性。蛋白质合成基因（RARS）中的单个非同义多态性）与城市热岛内的耐热可塑性有关，并在城市中显示出平行的选择特征。此外，我们在多个城市-森林比较中发现了生境之间差异表达基因的组，这些基因显示出较高的遗传差异。这些基因显示了城市内适应性调节进化的证据，并且在与耐热性相关的调节模块内不成比例地聚集。这项研究提供了在城市热岛中以温度为媒介进行选择的证据，这些选择在生物层次的多个层次上对生理进化具有可重复的影响。