Using Primate Comparative Biology to Understand Human Uniqueness

利用灵长类动物比较生物学来了解人类的独特性

• 批准号: 1355902
• 负责人: Charles Nunn
• 金额: $ 23.45万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-04-01 至 2018-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1355902&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Using; Primate; Comparative; Biology; Understand

A fundamental question in biology concerns the ways that species differ from one another. Perhaps nowhere is this more prominent than in the field of biological anthropology, where researchers investigate how and why humans differ from other primates, often under the assumption that human traits resulted from a unique constellation of forces that made our lineage particularly successful. Humans are clearly unique in many ways relative to other primates, including use of language, impressive problem-solving abilities, and cumulative cultural evolution. It is less clear how other biological traits - such as life history and physiology - have catalyzed these major changes. Have our unique cognitive abilities arisen from only a few underlying biological changes, or many changes? Which traits are involved, and how do they relate to one another? The central goal of this research to rigorously identify biological traits that are exceptional in humans, and thus important to other traits involved in our extraordinary success. This goal will be achieved through in-depth, advanced analyses of a wide range of important variables involving brain size, lifespan and related traits, and key physiological variables, such as immune system characteristics and body temperature. The research team will also investigate parasites and pathogens, which have been hypothesized to be super-abundant in humans, yet are known to depress cognitive performance. Two new statistical approaches will be developed. One set of methods predicts trait values in humans based on a statistical model estimated in non-human primates, and then evaluates whether the observed value in Homo sapiens departs from the predicted value. A second set of methods investigates evolutionary rates on different parts of an evolutionary tree. Under the hypothesis that a biological trait is exceptional in humans relative to non-human primates, elevated rates of evolutionary change in that trait are expected along the lineage leading to humans. In terms of intellectual merit, the research will open new avenues to better integrate studies of non-human primates into our understanding of human evolution. In the process, the research will address the question, what are the fundamental biological traits that have lead to human uniqueness and success? The new methods complement existing approaches to studying the fossil record, and they provide ways to investigate traits that do not fossilize, including behavioral and ecological traits. The research also will support important broader impacts, especially involving hands-on training in statistics and databases for the next generation of young scientists, and opportunities for these developing scientists to expand their knowledge of biology and anthropology. The research team also will produce new databases of primate and human characteristics that enable other scientists and students to investigate additional research questions important in the fields of biological anthropology. Finally, the investigator will organize a conference symposium in the final year of funding to share the results of this effort and stimulate future extensions of it

生物学中的一个基本问题涉及物种彼此不同的方式。 也许这比生物人类学领域更为突出，在该领域，研究人员调查了人类与其他灵长类动物的不同之处，通常是在人类特征是由独特的力量引起的，这使我们的血统特别成功所产生的人类特征。 人类在许多方面显然是独一无二的，相对于其他灵长类动物，包括语言的使用，令人印象深刻的解决问题能力以及累积的文化进化。 尚不清楚其他生物学特征（例如生活史和生理学）如何促进这些主要变化。 我们独特的认知能力是否仅来自一些基本的生物学变化或许多变化？ 涉及哪些特征，它们如何相互联系？ 这项研究的核心目标是严格识别人类特殊性的生物学特征，因此对于参与我们非凡成功的其他特征很重要。 将通过对涉及大脑大小，寿命和相关性状以及关键生理变量（例如免疫系统特征和体温）的广泛重要变量进行深入的高级分析来实现此目标。 研究小组还将研究寄生虫和病原体，这些寄生虫和病原体在人类中已被假设是超级丰富的，但已知会抑制认知表现。 将开发两种新的统计方法。 一组方法基于在非人类灵长类动物中估计的统计模型预测人类的性状值，然后评估同性恋者中观察到的值是否偏离了预测的值。 第二组方法研究了进化树的不同部分的进化速率。 在以下假设的假设是，相对于非人类灵长类动物，生物学性状在人类中是例外的，因此沿着该性状的进化变化率升高，沿着该谱系导致人类。就智力优点而言，这项研究将开放新的途径，以更好地将非人类灵长类动物的研究融入我们对人类进化的理解。 在此过程中，研究将解决这个问题，什么是导致人类独特性和成功的基本生物学特征？ 这些新方法补充了研究化石记录的现有方法，并提供了研究不化石（包括行为和生态特征）的特征的方法。 这项研究还将支持重要的广泛影响，尤其是涉及下一代年轻科学家的统计和数据库中的动手培训，以及这些发展中的科学家的机会，以扩大他们对生物学和人类学的了解。 研究团队还将生成灵长类动物和人类特征的新数据库，使其他科学家和学生能够调查在生物人类学领域重要的其他研究问题。 最后，调查人员将在资金的最后一年组织会议研讨会，以分享这项工作的结果并刺激未来的扩展