Makapansgat Interdisciplinary Paleoecology Project

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Matt Sponheimer博士和他的同事们将研究南非Makapansgat Limeworks的早期人类祖先非洲南方古猿和相关哺乳动物的生态学。该团队汇集了生物地球化学、牙齿微磨损和生态地貌学方面的专家，为人类进化提供了更完整的生态背景图。没有一种单一的古生态研究方法可以提供动物生态的完整图景，因为它们都有内在的优势和劣势。然而，通过同时使用各种技术，有可能利用它们各自的优势，同时部分克服它们的局限性。为此，该团队将利用牙齿微磨损、头颅和头骨后形态、碳同位素、氧同位素和元素分析来研究Makapansgat动物群的古生态。该项目的第一阶段将是在南非和肯尼亚进行大规模的现代采集和采样计划。这将为解释化石标本的数据提供必要的背景。一旦对现代标本进行了分析，研究小组将把这些技术应用于来自马卡潘斯加特的300万年前的化石。该团队将重点研究以下问题：1)我们的早期祖先喜欢什么栖息地；2)我们的早期祖先吃什么；3)他们对这些资源有多大的竞争。虽然这个项目的最终目的是提供关于非洲南猿及其相关动物生态的信息，但它也将对所利用的所有单独的子领域做出重要贡献，因为该小组将分析比以前的努力更大、更多样化的非洲动物群。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将提供考古学家和人类学家长期感兴趣的早期人类饮食和栖息地的数据。此外，它还将为研究其他灭绝动物的生态学提供可靠的多学科基础。这将为非洲哺乳动物进化的生态背景提供新的线索。

With National Science Foundation support Dr. Matt Sponheimer and his colleagues will investigate the ecology of the early human ancestor Australopithecus africanus and associated mammals from Makapansgat Limeworks, South Africa. The team brings together specialists in biogeochemistry, dental microwear, and ecomorphology to provide a more complete picture of the ecological background for human evolution. No single method of paleoecological research can provide a complete picture of an animal's ecology, as they all have intrinsic strengths and weaknesses. By using a variety of techniques in tandem, however, it may be possible to utilize their respective strengths, while partially overcoming their limitations. To this end, this team will examine the paleoecology of the Makapansgat fauna using dental microwear, cranial and postcranial morphology, carbon isotope, oxygen isotope, and elemental analyses. The initial phase of this project will be a large-scale modern collection and sampling program in South Africa and Kenya. This will provide the necessary background for interpreting data from fossil specimens. Once the modern specimens have been analyzed, the team will apply these techniques to the three million-year-old fossils from Makapansgat. The team will focus on the following questions: 1) What habitats did our early ancestors prefer; 2) What did our early ancestors eat; and 3) How much competition did they have for these resources. While this project is ultimately intended to provide information about the ecology of Australopithecus africanus and its associated fauna, it will also make important contributions to all of the individual subfields utilized, as the team will analyze a larger and more diverse African fauna than previous efforts. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data on early human diets and habitats of long-standing interest to archaeologists and physical anthropologists. Moreover, it will provide a sound multidisciplinary basis from which the ecology of other extinct animals can investigated. This will shed new light on the ecological background of mammalian evolution in Africa.