Dissertation Research : Anterior Dental Microwear and Tooth Use Among Sumatran Anthropoid Primates

近年来，对磨牙磨损模式的微观研究为化石类人的饮食提供了有用的推断。这是第一次尝试从前牙(门牙)的分析中重建饮食信息。对苏门答腊岛的四种共域灵长类动物(束猕猴、长臂猴、Hylobates lars和Pongo Pigmaeus)的中门牙进行扫描电子显微镜检查。特征将使用半自动图像分析程序进行量化，物种将根据揭示的牙齿微磨损模式进行比较。这些模式将被用来产生关于门牙使用程度、收缩这些牙齿的物品以及进食行为类型的预测。预测结果将通过在苏门答腊岛北部凯坦贝的自然栖息地观察同样的四个现存灵长类物种来进行评估。拟议的研究将(1)为牙齿微磨损的量化提供准确和快速的程序，(2)提供苏门答腊岛灵长类动物门牙微磨损和牙齿使用的数据，以及(3)确定门牙使用和微磨损之间的联系，以便可以预测前者对后者的影响。这种关联将有助于对化石门牙的饮食推断。

In recent years microscopic study of wear patterns on molar teeth has provided useful inferences on the diet of fossil hominoids. This is the first attempt to reconstruct dietary information from the analysis of anterior (incisor) teeth. Central incisors of four sympatric primate species form Sumatra (Macaca fascicularis, Presbytis thomasi, Hylobates lar, and Pongo pygmaeus) will be examined by scanning electron microscopy. Features will be quantified using a semi-automated image analysis procedure, and species will be compared on the basis of revealed dental microwear patterns. These patterns will be use to generate predictions concerning degree of incisor use, items contracting these teeth, and type of ingestive behavior. Resulting predictions will be evaluated by observing the same four living primate species in their natural habitat at Ketambe, in northern Sumatra. The proposed research will (1) introduce a precise an rapid procedure for the quantification of dental microwear, (2) provide data on incisor microwear and tooth use among Sumatran primates, and (3) determine associations between incisor use and microwear so that the former may be predicted for the latter. Such associations will facilitate dietary inferences for fossil incisors.