Workshop on Faunal Evidence for Hominin Paleoecology in East Africa.

与东非早期人类祖先有关的哺乳动物化石是现代非洲动物和原始人适应全球和区域气候变化的古老生态系统的重要证据来源。这样的数据可以帮助我们回答这样的问题：1)古人类在任何给定的时间点是否适应了特定的栖息地或一系列栖息地？2)当我们的祖先从森林栖息地过渡到更开阔的稀树草原时发生了什么？这种转变发生在什么时候？3)古人类如何与其他哺乳动物互动，随着古人类开始在饮食中加入更多的肉类，这种变化是如何发生的？经过几十年密集的野外和博物馆工作，关于东非哺乳动物化石的大量数据已经积累起来。该讲习班旨在促进这些信息的综合，并利用这些古生物数据协同分析古人类古生态。来自非洲、欧洲和北美的与会者将讨论如何组织和共享有关哺乳动物化石的信息，以提高对东非过去700万年生态变化和人类进化的理解。参与者从在非洲有数十年经验的研究人员到研究生和年轻的专业人员，他们开始致力于了解塑造人类适应能力的古环境力量。该讲习班是在为2003年美国自然人类学家协会会议组织的一次专题讨论会的基础上举办的，许多与会者在会上介绍了动物群数据。具体目标包括：1)促进关于东非各种动物群的信息交流和讨论；2)为数据收集、报告和数据库访问制定基本准则；3)建立一个有组织的个人和机构网络，以促进今后提高数据质量和可比性。研讨会围绕古人类古生态学的核心问题，以及如何最好地利用庞大的动物群信息来解决这些问题而组织。它以为期一天的关于动物群分析的简短报告开始。在第二天和第三天，三个分组将讨论以下主题：A)古人类古生态学的主要问题，B)古动物分析的方法学，C)古动物数据库。最后一个下午，整个小组将再次开会，总结对这些主题的讨论，并为未来的研究和数据交换准备建议。该讲习班应该对东非博物馆资源和科学事业的发展产生广泛影响，因为它将把专家、学生和青年科学家聚集在一起，促进更多的数据和思想交流，促进动物数据的更大标准化和可获得性。它将为未来在人类进化背景下关于动物群变化的培训、合作和比较研究奠定基础。它还将解决与个人和机构开发的动物数据库有关的数据共享和知识产权问题，这对发展中国家的博物馆特别重要。研讨会的结果将作为一份主要古人类学期刊的报告撰写，作为讨论基础的数据集将发布在互联网上。

Fossil mammals associated with early human ancestors in East Africa are an important source of evidence for the ancient ecosystems in which the modern African fauna, and hominins themselves, adapted to global and regional climate change. Such data can help us to answer questions such as: 1) Were hominins adapted to specific habitats or a range of habitats at any given point in time? 2) What happened when our ancestors made the transition from living in forested habitats to more open savanna, and when does this transition occur? 3) How did hominins interact with other mammals and how did this change as hominins began to include more meat in their diets?A large and widely dispersed body of data has been amassed on East African fossil mammals over many decades of intensive field and museum work. This Workshop is designed to promote synthesis of this information and synergize the analysis of hominin paleoecology using this paleontological data. Participants from Africa, Europe, and North America will discuss ways to organize and share information about fossil mammals in order to improve understanding of the past 7 million years of ecological change and human evolution in East Africa. The participants range from researchers with decades of experience in Africa to graduate students and young professionals who are beginning careers dedicated to understanding the paleoenvironmental forces that shaped human adaptations. The workshop builds upon a symposium organized for the 2003 meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, where many of the same participants presented faunal data. Specific goals include: 1) promoting exchange and discussion of information on a wide range of faunas from East Africa, 2) establishing basic guidelines for data collection, reporting and database accessibility, 3) creating an organized network of individuals and institutions to facilitate future improved data quality and comparability. The workshop is organized around central questions in hominin paleoecology, and how best to utilize the huge body of faunal information to address such questions. It begins with a day of short presentations on faunal analysis. During the second and third days, three break-out groups will discuss the following topics: A) major questions in hominin paleoecology, B) methodologies in paleofaunal analysis, C) paleofaunal databases. The final afternoon, the entire group will reconvene to summarize discussion on these topics and prepare recommendations for future research and data exchange. The workshop should have broad impact on the development of museum resources and scientific careers in East Africa because it will bring together experts, students, and young scientists to inspire increased exchange of data and ideas, promote greater standardization and accessibility of faunal data. It will lay groundwork for future training, collaborations and comparative research on faunal change in the context of hominin evolution. It will also address the issue of data sharing and intellectual property rights with regard to faunal databases developed by individuals and institutions, which is particularly important to museums in developing countries. Results of the workshop will be written up as a report for a major paleoanthropological journal, and datasets that serve as a basis for discussion will be posted on the internet.