Dietary change among hominins and cercopithecids in Ethiopia during the early Pliocene
Dietary change among hominins and cercopithecids in Ethiopia during the early Pliocene
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上新世早期埃塞俄比亚古人类和鹿猿的饮食变化
DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1424982112
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发表时间：
2015
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
B. Saylor
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
N. Levin;Y. Haile;Stephen R. Frost;B. Saylor
意义古人类的饮食变化是人类进化的一个重要方面。在这里，我们使用碳同位素数据从化石牙齿的人类，猴子，和其他哺乳动物从埃塞俄比亚的文件C4食物消费的人类和狒狒，兽猿奥斯瓦尔迪，在上新世早期。早在3.76 Ma，人类饮食的扩张和奥斯瓦尔迪兽猿（Theropithecus oswaldi）谱系的出现标志着非洲灵长类群落的重大生态变化。能够吃一系列C3和C4食物的能力表明，上新世早期的人类可能是多面手，他们可以在不同的环境中茁壮成长。将C4资源纳入古人类的饮食意味着古人类饮食范围的扩大，以及与其他类人猿饮食模式的差异。形态学证据表明，人类的饮食在420万年前变得越来越多样化，但考虑到现有的同位素证据，直到80万年后才可能包括大部分C4食物。在这里，我们使用的碳同位素数据从上新世早期到中期的人类和猴化石从Woranso-Mille（阿法尔中部，埃塞俄比亚）限制这种饮食变化的时间和生态环境。我们发现，这两个hominins和一些papionins扩大他们的饮食，包括C4资源早在3.76马。在人类中，这种饮食扩张发生在南方古猿与地猿区别开来的主要牙颌形态变化之后，但它发生在对更坚硬食物的饮食和对陆地两足动物的连续适应中。与此相反，来自尾猿的碳同位素数据表明，C4占主导地位的饮食的最早的成员的Oswaldi谱系之前的牙齿专业化放牧，但发生后，他们完全陆地。综合数据表明，人类饮食中包含C4食物是非洲灵长类动物群落更广泛生态变化的一部分。
Significance Dietary change among hominins is a critical aspect of human evolution. Here we use carbon isotope data from fossil teeth of hominins, monkeys, and other mammals from Ethiopia to document C4 food consumption by both hominins and the baboon, Theropithecus oswaldi, during the early Pliocene. The expansion of hominin diet and the appearance of the Theropithecus oswaldi lineage as early as 3.76 Ma mark a major ecological change within African primate communities. The ability to eat a range of C3 and C4 foods indicates that early Pliocene hominins were likely generalists who could thrive in different and perhaps varying environments. The incorporation of C4 resources into hominin diet signifies increased dietary breadth within hominins and divergence from the dietary patterns of other great apes. Morphological evidence indicates that hominin diet became increasingly diverse by 4.2 million years ago but may not have included large proportions of C4 foods until 800 thousand years later, given the available isotopic evidence. Here we use carbon isotope data from early to mid Pliocene hominin and cercopithecid fossils from Woranso-Mille (central Afar, Ethiopia) to constrain the timing of this dietary change and its ecological context. We show that both hominins and some papionins expanded their diets to include C4 resources as early as 3.76 Ma. Among hominins, this dietary expansion postdates the major dentognathic morphological changes that distinguish Australopithecus from Ardipithecus, but it occurs amid a continuum of adaptations to diets of tougher, harder foods and to committed terrestrial bipedality. In contrast, carbon isotope data from cercopithecids indicate that C4-dominated diets of the earliest members of the Theropithecus oswaldi lineage preceded the dental specialization for grazing but occurred after they were fully terrestrial. The combined data indicate that the inclusion of C4 foods in hominin diet occurred as part of broader ecological changes in African primate communities.