Collaborative Research: Integrative analysis of hominid feeding biomechanics

合作研究：原始人类进食生物力学的综合分析

• 批准号: 0725126
• 负责人: David Strait
• 金额: $ 94.06万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Albany
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0725126&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Integrative; analysis; hominid

Understanding the forces that shaped the appearance and development of modern humans has been a leading goal of biological anthropology for decades. As technology has improved, our capability to investigate key questions about the factors affecting the shape of our anatomy have advanced significantly. Here, an interdisciplinary team of anthropologists and engineers will use engineering and experimental methods to examine how the shape of the skull has evolved in order to adapt to the forces associated with feeding on different types of food items. Specifically, the researchers will take a highly interdisciplinary approach to examining whether the skulls of these early humans were well designed to crack open and chew such hard, brittle objects. Dietary adaptations are thought to have been critical factors influencing the course of early human evolution, so this research project will provide valuable insights into the functional anatomy, diet, ecology and behavior of the earliest human ancestors.With respect to intellectual merit, this project will: (a) examine the functional and evolutionary relationships between diet and skull form, (b) test a leading hypothesis explaining the evolution of the earliest humans, (c) collect and integrate multiple types of raw data critical to an understanding of feeding biomechanics, (d) develop methods for the rapid construction of engineering models that can be applied to research questions in a wide range of disciplines, (e) integrate ecological, comparative, experimental, and engineering techniques for the investigation of evolutionary questions, and (f) rapidly disseminate data, models and findings to the scientific community.With respect to broader impacts, this study will: (a) promote interdisciplinarity, diversity and internationalism in science, (b) collect data about skull biomechanics that are relevant to dentistry and craniofacial medicine, (c) support the research of three junior investigators each in the first year of their academic appointments, (d) support female graduate students at several universities, (e) provide support to undergraduates at a university whose student body has a high proportion of minorities, (f) provide training for international students in developing nations (Brazil, Suriname), which will ultimately support the development of scientific infrastructure and institutions in those countries, (g) provide content to an exhibit focusing on human biology and evolution at the Georgia Children?s Museum, (h) using engineering models, limit the need for, or at least increase the analytical power of, future experimental studies requiring the use of live animals, (i) generate data relevant to conservation efforts by documenting the relationship between ecology and adaptation in certain primates, (j) strengthen collaborations between anthropologists and engineers in ten universities and two countries, (k) heighten awareness in the engineering community about how their methods are applicable to evolutionary questions.

几十年来，了解现代人类的外观和发展的力量一直是生物人类学的主要目标。 随着技术的改善，我们调查有关影响解剖结构形状的因素的关键问题的能力已大大提高。 在这里，人类学家和工程师的跨学科团队将使用工程和实验方法来检查颅骨的形状如何发展，以适应与不同类型的食物相关的力量。 具体而言，研究人员将采取一种高度跨学科的方法来检查这些早期人类的头骨是否经过精心设计，以打开和咀嚼如此脆弱的物体。 Dietary adaptations are thought to have been critical factors influencing the course of early human evolution, so this research project will provide valuable insights into the functional anatomy, diet, ecology and behavior of the earliest human ancestors.With respect to intellectual merit, this project will: (a) examine the functional and evolutionary relationships between diet and skull form, (b) test a leading hypothesis explaining the evolution of the earliest humans, (c) collect and integrate multiple （d）开发工程模型快速构建方法的原始数据类型，可以应用于在广泛学科的研究问题上，（e）整合生态，比较，实验性，实验性和工程技术，以研究进化问题的研究，以及（f）迅速地将数据和（f）扩展到科学群体中，以实现科学的范围，以实现这一范围。跨学科性，科学中的多样性和国际化，（b）收集有关与牙科和颅面医学相关的颅骨生物力学的数据国家（巴西，苏里南）最终将支持这些国家的科学基础设施和机构的发展，（g）为佐治亚儿童博物馆（H）使用工程模型的侧重于人类生物学和进化的展览提供内容，以限制需要进行工程的努力，以实现实验性关系（未来的实验性研究）（未来的实验性研究）（I）（未来的实验性研究（I）（未来）（I）（未来的实验性研究）（I）（I）（未来）（I）（I）的实验性研究（I）某些灵长类动物的生态和适应性，（j）加强了十所大学和两国的人类学家和工程师之间的合作，（k）提高了工程社区对他们方法如何适用于进化问题的认识。