Doctoral Dissertation Research: Tooth biomechanics in Hominins and Extant Primates

博士论文研究：古人类和现存灵长类动物的牙齿生物力学

• 批准号: 2051326
• 负责人: David Strait
• 金额: $ 3.13万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2024-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2051326&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Tooth; biomechanics

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This doctoral dissertation project advances knowledge about the relationship between tooth root shape variation and feeding adaptations in living primates and fossil hominins, to advance knowledge about feeding and diet during human evolution. The project uses methods and works with collaborators from a variety of fields including paleontology, anthropology, anatomy, and primatology, providing integration and cross-disciplinary perspectives for understanding human evolution. The project supports graduate and undergraduate training, including individuals from groups underrepresented in STEM research, and the investigator has developed student and public science outreach activities plans well as contributing to primate conservation efforts. Previous work in primatology and paleoanthropology has considered how tooth crown shape affects the efficiency of processing foods during feeding. However, teeth are subject to an equally important, competing functional constraint; while teeth must function to fracture food items, they must also avoid being fractured themselves. This proposal seeks to answer whether: 1) variation in premolar form is mechanically related to resisting tooth fracture during feeding on mechanically resistant foods; and 2) variation in premolar tooth form explains mechanically significant feeding behavior in fossil hominins. The project integrates morphometric and engineering analyses coupled with observational behavioral data to test hypotheses concerning the functional relationships of premolar root form, a character featured in many hypotheses about early hominin phylogeny and adaptation. The project also integrates multiple types of data analysis including biomechanical analyses, three-dimensional shape analyses and primate behavior videographic analyses, ensuring a robust and comprehensive approach. Additionally, methodologies from several fields are incorporated, including biomedical science and engineering, biological anthropology, anatomy, primatology, and evolutionary biology, which provides the potential for collaboration among scientists across these disciplines.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项是根据2021年《美国救援计划法》（公法117-2）全部或部分资助的。该博士学位论文项目促进了有关牙齿根形变化与喂养灵长类动物和化石人本质中喂养适应性之间关系的知识，以提高有关人类进化过程中有关喂养和饮食的知识。该项目使用来自各个领域的合作者的方法和合作，包括古生物学，人类学，解剖学和原始学，提供融合和跨学科观点，以了解人类的进化。该项目支持研究生和本科培训，包括来自STEM研究中人数不足的团体的个人，研究人员已经制定了学生和公共科学外展活动计划，可以很好地为灵长类动物的保护工作做出贡献。先前的原始学和古人类学研究已经考虑了牙冠形状如何影响喂养过程中加工食品的效率。但是，牙齿受到同样重要的竞争功能约束的约束。虽然牙齿必须发挥作用以使食物骨折，但它们还必须避免被骨折。该提案试图回答：1）前磨牙形式的变化与在机械耐药食物中的抗牙骨折机械上有关； 2）前牙形式的变化解释了化石人类素的机械饲喂行为。该项目集成了形态计量学和工程分析以及观察行为数据，以测试有关前磨根形式功能关系的假设，这是许多关于早期人本蛋白系统发育和适应性的假设中的特征。该项目还整合了多种类型的数据分析，包括生物力学分析，三维形状分析和灵长类动物行为录像学分析，从而确保了强大而全面的方法。此外，还合并了来自几个领域的方法论，包括生物医学科学和工程，生物人类学，解剖学，灵长类学和进化生物学，这为科学家之间在这些学科中进行协作提供了潜力。该奖项反映了NSF的立法使命，并被认为是通过基金会的智力综述和广泛的评估来评估的，并且值得通过评估。