Doctoral Dissertation Research: Characterization of a modern East African ecosystem to inform reconstructions of hominin diet

博士论文研究：现代东非生态系统的表征，为古人类饮食的重建提供信息

• 批准号: 1613421
• 负责人: John Fleagle
• 金额: $ 2.83万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-01 至 2018-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1613421&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Characterization; modern

Diet is an important factor in studies of human evolution because it is linked to behavior, morphology, and ecology. This doctoral dissertation project seeks to increase our understanding of the diets of early human ancestors through analysis of modern East African ecosystems. The student co-PI will evaluate the nutritional and mechanical properties of dominant savanna and wetland plants, in addition to commonly eaten and avoided baboon foods, across gradients of seasonal and microhabitat variability. Previous work has shed light on broad habitat and food preferences of early humans, and this project's focus on seasonality and microhabitat will provide important new data to augment past studies. This project will support student and research assistant training in ecological field methods, public science outreach activities designed to reach students from groups underrepresented in STEM fields, and conservation efforts at the research site. This project will address the lack of ecological data currently available for reconstructing diet in Plio-Pleistocene hominins by studying the mechanical properties of foods that may have been accessible to hominins. The researchers will conduct fieldwork across both the wet and dry seasons in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, a site known for its high microhabitat heterogeneity and large yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) populations. They will establish sampling transects in different microhabitats (grassland, wetland, scrubland, etc.) and collect dominant tree, forb, herb, grass, and sedge species in each transect (where applicable). Commonly eaten and avoided baboon foods will also be collected within each transect; baboons are a suitable ecological analogue for early humans because of their wide dietary niche and preference for savanna habitats. A portable mechanical tester will be used on fresh plant material to measure the hardness and toughness of the component parts (root, stem, leaf, etc.) of each sampled species. Once mechanical testing is complete, remaining plant samples will be dried and analyzed for fiber, lignin, fat and oil, protein, and trace metal content. The resulting nutritional and mechanical properties data incorporating both seasonal and microhabitat variability can be used to build predictive models of early human foraging behavior.

饮食是人类进化研究的重要因素，因为它与行为，形态和生态学有关。该博士学位论文项目旨在通过分析现代东非生态系统来增强我们对早期人类祖先饮食的理解。学生Co-Pi还将评估跨季节性和微生物变异性的梯度，除了通常食用和避免的狒狒食品外，还要评估主要的稀树草原和湿地植物的营养和机械性能。以前的工作已经阐明了早期人类的广泛栖息地和食物偏好，该项目的重点是季节性和微栖息地，将为增强过去的研究提供重要的新数据。该项目将支持生态领域方法的学生和研究助理培训，公共科学宣传活动，旨在吸引STEM领域中代表性不足的学生以及研究地点的保护工作。该项目将通过研究人类可能可以使用的食物的机械性能来解决当前可用于重建饮食的生态数据。研究人员将在肯尼亚安博塞利国家公园的潮湿和干旱季节进行实地考察，该地点以其高度居民的异质性和大黄色狒狒（帕皮奥·塞诺克塞鲁斯）人群而闻名。他们将在不同的微栖息地（草原，湿地，灌木丛等）中建立样本样品，并收集每个样带（适用）中的主导树，福布，草药，草和丝叶种。通常还会在每个样带中收集通常食用和避免的狒狒食品；狒狒是早期人类的合适生态类似物，因为它们的饮食习惯广泛和对稀树草原栖息地的偏爱。 便携式机械测试仪将用于新鲜植物材料上，以测量每个采样物种的组件部分（根，茎，叶片等）的硬度和韧性。机械测试完成后，将对剩余的植物样品进行干燥并分析纤维，木质素，脂肪和油，蛋白质和微量金属含量。所得的营养和机械性能数据纳入了季节性和微生境变异性，可用于建立早期人类觅食行为的预测模型。