Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: From Diet to Tissue: Compound Specific Isotopic Routing in Chimpanzees

博士论文改进：从饮食到组织：黑猩猩的复合特异性同位素路由

• 批准号: 0925785
• 负责人: John Kingston
• 金额: $ 1.38万
• 依托单位: Emory University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-15 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0925785&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Diet; Tissue

Evolutionary processes occurring within the last 3 million years of the hominin lineage have been intimately associated with diet. Dietary factors hypothesized to have played critical roles in the niche partitioning between australopithecines, paranthropines, and early Homo include variable contributions of seeds, tubers, ripe or unripe fruit, pith, and animal flesh. Current approaches, however, lack the necessary resolution for differentiating the dietary contribution of these items within fossil species. Isotopic approaches represent one methodology with the potential of quantitatively estimating the contribution of individual food stuffs within a given dietary niche. As the tissues of an organism are constructed from dietary components ingested from the environment, the isotopic composition of the individual reflect these inputs. However, to interpret tissue level isotopic variation in relation to individual diet, one must understand the underlying isotopic variability within the lived environment. The goal of this project is to utilize compound specific isotopic analyses of individual amino acids to reveal how isotopic variability within the diet of chimpanzees is consumed, metabolized, and deposited within the hard tissues. Incorporating elements of primatology, biogeochemistry, and nutritional science this project will examine amino acid delta13C and delta15N variability within the environment and the subsequent physiological routing from diet to hair, bone and teeth of modern chimpanzees in Kibale National Forest, Uganda. Intellectual merit: These analyses represent a novel and significant approach to improve our understanding of isotopic variability within modern East African C3 ecosystems and chimpanzee physiology. Additionally, they will provide the groundwork necessary for high-resolution dietary reconstruction from fossil remains of our earliest hominin ancestors. Broader impacts: The ability to quantify past consumption and thereby elucidate the role of foods over the course of human evolution is critically important for making informed decisions about how humans should healthfully, sustainably, and ethically consume into the future. This research will contribute to the doctoral dissertation and academic training of a graduate student.

在人类谱系的最后300万年内发生的进化过程与饮食密切相关。饮食因素假设在澳大利亚，par虫和早期同性恋之间的利基分配中起着至关重要的作用，包括种子，块茎，成熟或生产的水果，髓和动物肉的可变贡献。但是，目前的方法缺乏区分化石种类中这些物品的饮食贡献的必要分辨率。 同位素方法代表一种方法，具有定量估计给定饮食莱基市场中各个食物的贡献的潜力。由于生物体的组织是由从环境中摄入的饮食成分构成的，因此个体的同位素组成反映了这些输入。但是，要解释与个体饮食有关的组织水平同位素变异，必须了解生物环境中的基本同位素变异性。该项目的目的是利用单个氨基酸的复合特定的同位素分析，以揭示黑猩猩饮食中的同位素变异性如何消耗，代谢并沉积在硬组织中。结合了原始学，生物地球化学和营养科学的要素，该项目将检查环境内的氨基酸delta13c和delta15n变异性以及随后从饮食到乌干达基巴莱国家森林中现代黑猩猩的头发，骨骼和牙齿的生理路线。 智力优点：这些分析代表了一种新颖而重要的方法，可以提高我们对现代东非C3生态系统和黑猩猩生理学中同位素变异性的理解。 此外，他们将提供我们最早的人类祖先化石遗迹的高分辨率饮食重建所需的基础。 更广泛的影响：量化过去消费的能力，从而阐明食物在人类进化过程中的作用对于就人类应如何健康，可持续和道德上的方式做出明智的决定至关重要。这项研究将有助于研究生的博士学位论文和学术培训。