Data from: Adaptive responses to cool climate promotes persistence of a non-native lizard

Successful establishment and range expansion of non-native species often require rapid accommodation of novel environments. Here, we use common-garden experiments to demonstrate parallel adaptive evolutionary response to a cool climate in populations of wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) introduced from southern Europe into England. Low soil temperatures in the introduced range delay hatching, which generates directional selection for a shorter incubation period. Non-native lizards from two separate lineages have responded to this selection by retaining their embryos for longer before oviposition—hence reducing the time needed to complete embryogenesis in the nest—and by an increased developmental rate at low temperatures. This divergence mirrors local adaptation across latitudes and altitudes within widely distributed species and suggests that evolutionary responses to climate can be very rapid. When extrapolated to soil temperatures encountered in nests within the introduced range, embryo retention and faster developmental rate result in one to several weeks earlier emergence compared with the ancestral state. We show that this difference translates into substantial survival benefits for offspring. This should promote short- and long-term persistence of non-native populations, and ultimately enable expansion into areas that would be unattainable with incubation duration representative of the native range.非本土物种的成功定殖与分布扩张，往往需要快速适应全新环境。本研究借助同质园实验（common-garden experiments），证实了从南欧引入英格兰的普通壁蜥（Podarcis muralis）种群，对凉爽气候产生了平行适应性进化响应。引入区域内较低的土壤温度会延迟胚胎孵化，由此产生了针对更短孵化周期的定向选择压力。来自两个独立演化支的非本土蜥蜴，通过两种策略响应这一选择：一是在产卵前更长时间地留存胚胎，从而减少巢穴内完成胚胎发育所需的时长；二是在低温环境下提升发育速率。这种分化现象与广布物种内部沿纬度与海拔梯度的本地适应特征相一致，表明对气候的进化响应可以极为迅速。当将研究结果外推至引入区域巢穴所遭遇的土壤温度时，胚胎留存时长与更快的发育速率，会使幼体孵化时间比祖先种群提前一至数周。研究表明，这一差异能为后代带来显著的生存益处。这将有助于非本土种群的短期与长期存续，并最终使其能够扩张至以本土种群典型孵化时长而言无法抵达的区域。