Doctoral Dissertation Research: Ecology, biology, and coexistence among multiple species of human ancestors

博士论文研究：生态学、生物学以及人类祖先多种物种的共存

• 批准号: 2235629
• 负责人: Bernard Wood
• 金额: $ 1.08万
• 依托单位: George Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-04-01 至 2024-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2235629&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Ecology; biology

Variation in the human fossil record from sites in eastern Africa is too great to be attributed to one hominin species. It has been suggested that up to five hominin species – Paranthropus boisei, Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis, Homo ergaster, and Homo erectus ¬– overlapped in space, time and in the dietary resources consumed. This project identifies the extent and type of competition between eastern African P. boisei and early Homo during the Pleistocene (after c. 2.5 mya). Understanding how early Homo responded to competition with other species at this critical early stage in the history of our genus allows us to better appreciate our own anatomy, behavior and plasticity. This study also has broader implications for ecological and biological research. Character displacement, which is one of the factors that enables the coexistence of closely related species, influences the structure of ecological communities, and helps drive speciation and the distribution of biodiversity. The project also creates lesson plans with education experts in the United States and internationally and supports the training of a woman scholar.The researchers use 3D geometric morphometric (GM) shape-change analysis to test whether interspecific competition influenced the evolution of our genus Homo through time, and whether there were any significant morphological effects of this competition. Conventional wisdom suggested that early Homo led to the extinction of P. boisei over time through competitive exclusion. However, this project applies an updated 3D GM shape-change analysis methodology to test for ecological niche incumbency, a type of competition hypothesis that has not typically been considered in paleoanthropology. The investigators use molar morphological evidence from over a million years in P. boisei and early Homo to investigate the nature and potential causes of any interspecific competition. The results of this study may provide evidence of competition between these genera through time and transform previous narratives of Homo exceptionalism by showing how a non-ancestral hominin may have influenced the trajectory of our own ancestral lineage.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.

东非地点的人类化石记录的变化太大了，无法归因于一种人类物种。有人提出，多达五种人类的物种 - paranthropus boisei，homo habilis，homo rudolfensis，homo eno ergaster和homo Erectus--在时空，时间和消耗的饮食资源中重叠。该项目确定了更新世期间东非P. Boisei和早期HOMO之间竞争的程度和类型（C。2.5Mya之后）。了解早期在我们属史上这个关键的早期阶段与其他物种竞争的反应如何使我们能够更好地欣赏自己的解剖结构，行为和可塑性。这项研究对生态和生物学研究也具有更广泛的影响。角色流离失所是使亲密物种共存的因素之一，它影响了生态群落的结构，并有助于推动规格和生物多样性的分布。该项目还与美国和国际教育专家一起制定了课程计划，并支持女性科学的培训。研究人员使用3D几何形态计量学（GM）形状变化分析来测试种间竞争是否会随着时间的推移影响我们的同性恋属，以及该竞争是否有任何重大形态影响。传统观念表明，早期的同性恋通过竞争性排斥导致了P. Boisei的扩展。但是，该项目应用了更新的3D GM形状变化分析方法来测试生态利基现任，这是一种竞争假设，通常在古人类学中尚未考虑。研究人员在Boisei和早期HOMO中使用摩尔形态证据，研究任何种间竞争的性质和潜在原因。这项研究的结果可能提供了这些属之间的竞争证据，并通过展示非官方人类蛋白如何影响我们祖先血统的轨迹，改变了同性恋异常主义的先前叙事。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和广泛的范围来评估来表现出珍贵的支持。