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.

该奖项的全部或部分资金根据《2021 年美国救援计划法案》（公法 117-2）提供。该博士论文项目增进了对活体灵长类动物和化石古人类的牙根形状变化与摄食适应之间关系的了解，以增进有关人类进化过程中摄食和饮食的知识。该项目使用方法并与来自古生物学、人类学、解剖学和灵长类动物学等各个领域的合作者合作，为理解人类进化提供整合和跨学科的视角。该项目支持研究生和本科生培训，包括来自 STEM 研究中代表性不足的群体的个人，研究人员制定了学生和公共科学外展活动计划，并为灵长类动物保护工作做出了贡献。灵长类动物学和古人类学之前的研究已经考虑了牙冠形状如何影响进食过程中食物加工的效率。然而，牙齿也受到同样重要的、相互竞争的功能限制。虽然牙齿必须具有破碎食物的功能，但它们本身也必须避免破碎。该提案试图回答：1）前磨牙形状的变化与在喂食抗机械性食物时抵抗牙齿断裂有机械相关性； 2）前臼齿形状的变化解释了古人类化石中具有机械意义的进食行为。该项目将形态测量和工程分析与观察行为数据相结合，以测试有关前磨牙根形态功能关系的假设，这是许多有关早期人类系统发育和适应的假设的特征。该项目还集成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视频分析，确保了稳健和全面的方法。此外，还融合了多个领域的方法论，包括生物医学科学与工程、生物人类学、解剖学、灵长类动物学和进化生物学，这为这些学科的科学家之间的合作提供了潜力。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为是值得的通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来提供支持。