Urban wildlife faces a novel set of challenges resulting in selective pressure that can lead to population-level changes. We studied Australian water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii) from urban and natural populations to test if urban populations differed in body size, shape, and performance capacity. If urban-derived morphology has arisen through selection, we predicted distinct morphological differences between wild dragons from urban and natural areas in both adult and hatchling life-stages. Urban hatchlings were morphologically distinct (shorter body lengths and longer limbs) from natural populations, while urban adult males continued this trend but only for body size (shorter body lengths). We then experimentally reared hatchlings originating from urban and natural populations within urban- and natural-style enclosures (2 × 2 factorial design) for a year to determine if differences in morphology and performance capacity (sprint speed, endurance, and clinging ability) were related to either the individual’s origin population or developmental environment. Yearlings reared in urban-style enclosures, irrespective of population origin, had smaller body sizes compared to those from natural-style enclosures, suggesting developmental environment was affecting their morphology. Despite this difference in body size, yearling dragon performance capacity was not significantly different between treatments. Overall, this study provides evidence of a complex relationship driving urban-divergent morphology – whereby urban dragons emerge as smaller hatchlings with longer limbs (innate traits) and are then further influenced by the urban environments that they develop in (phenotypic plasticity); however, and potentially owing to behavioral, ecological, and demographical differences, these changes appear to be sex-specific.

城市野生动物面临着一系列新挑战，导致选择性压力，可能导致人口水平的变化。我们研究了澳大利亚的水龙（Intellagama lesueurii）从城市人口和自然人口中进行测试，以测试城市人口的身体大小，形状和运动能力是否有所不同。如果通过选择出现了城市派生的形态，我们预测了成年和孵化阶段中城市和自然地区的野生龙在形态上的明显差异。城市孵化器在形态上与自然种群不同（较短的体长和较长的肢体），而市区的成年雄性继续这种趋势，但仅针对体型（较短的体长）。然后，我们通过实验在城市和自然风格的围栏（2×2因子设计）中饲养来自城市和自然种群的孵化器一年，以确定形态和性能上的差异（冲刺速度，耐力，和紧贴能力）与个人的原籍人口或发展环境有关。与自然风格圈养的相比，在城市风格圈养的一岁幼鸽，无论其种群来源如何，其体型都较小。这表明发育环境正在影响其形态。尽管身体大小存在差异，但不同处理之间的一岁龙表演能力没有显着差异。总体而言，这项研究提供了驱动城市差异形态的复杂关系的证据-城市龙以较小的孵化器出现，具有较长的肢体（先天性状），然后进一步受到其发展的城市环境的影响（表型可塑性）；但是，并且可能由于行为，生态和人口统计学的差异，