Collaborative research: Integrative analysis of hominid feeding biomechanics

合作研究：原始人类进食生物力学的综合分析

• 批准号: 0725147
• 负责人: Callum Ross
• 金额: $ 40.61万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-01 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0725147&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; research; Integrative; analysis; hominid

Understanding the forces that shaped the appearance and development of modern humans has been a leading goal of biological anthropology for decades. As technology has improved, our capability to investigate key questions about the factors affecting the shape of our anatomy have advanced significantly. Here, an interdisciplinary team of anthropologists and engineers will use engineering and experimental methods to examine how the shape of the skull has evolved in order to adapt to the forces associated with feeding on different types of food items. Specifically, the researchers will take a highly interdisciplinary approach to examining whether the skulls of these early humans were well designed to crack open and chew such hard, brittle objects. Dietary adaptations are thought to have been critical factors influencing the course of early human evolution, so this research project will provide valuable insights into the functional anatomy, diet, ecology and behavior of the earliest human ancestors. With respect to intellectual merit, this project will: (a) examine the functional and evolutionary relationships between diet and skull form, (b) test a leading hypothesis explaining the evolution of the earliest humans, (c) collect and integrate multiple types of raw data critical to an understanding of feeding biomechanics, (d) develop methods for the rapid construction of engineering models that can be applied to research questions in a wide range of disciplines, (e) integrate ecological, comparative, experimental, and engineering techniques for the investigation of evolutionary questions, and (f) rapidly disseminate data, models and findings to the scientific community. With respect to broader impacts, this study will: (a) promote interdisciplinarity, diversity and internationalism in science, (b) collect data about skull biomechanics that are relevant to dentistry and craniofacial medicine, (c) support the research of three junior investigators each in the first year of their academic appointments, (d) support female graduate students at several universities, (e) provide support to undergraduates at a university whose student body has a high proportion of minorities, (f) provide training for international students in developing nations (Brazil, Suriname), which will ultimately support the development of scientific infrastructure and institutions in those countries, (g) provide content to an exhibit focusing on human biology and evolution at the Georgia Children?s Museum, (h) using engineering models, limit the need for, or at least increase the analytical power of, future experimental studies requiring the use of live animals, (i) generate data relevant to conservation efforts by documenting the relationship between ecology and adaptation in certain primates, (j) strengthen collaborations between anthropologists and engineers in ten universities and two countries, (k) heighten awareness in the engineering community about how their methods are applicable to evolutionary questions.

几十年来，了解塑造现代人类外观和发展的力量一直是生物人类学的主要目标。随着技术的进步，我们研究影响我们解剖结构形状的因素的关键问题的能力已经显着提高。在这里，一个由人类学家和工程师组成的跨学科团队将使用工程和实验方法来研究头骨的形状是如何进化的，以适应与进食不同类型食物相关的力量。具体来说，研究人员将采取一种高度跨学科的方法来研究这些早期人类的头骨是否经过精心设计，能够裂开并咀嚼这些坚硬易碎的物体。饮食适应被认为是影响早期人类进化过程的关键因素，因此该研究项目将为人类最早祖先的功能解剖学，饮食，生态学和行为提供有价值的见解。在智力方面，该项目将：（a）检查饮食和头骨形状之间的功能和进化关系，（B）测试解释最早人类进化的主要假设，（c）收集和整合对理解进食生物力学至关重要的多种类型的原始数据，（d）开发快速构建工程模型的方法，这些模型可以应用于广泛学科的研究问题，（e）整合生态学，比较，实验，（f）迅速向科学界传播数据、模型和调查结果。关于更广泛的影响，本研究将：（a）促进科学的跨学科性、多样性和国际性，（B）收集与牙科和颅面医学有关的颅骨生物力学数据，（c）支持三名初级研究员在其学术任命的第一年进行研究，（d）支持几所大学的女研究生，（e）为少数民族学生比例较高的大学的本科生提供支助，（f）为发展中国家的国际学生提供培训（巴西、苏里南），最终将支持这些国家发展科学基础设施和机构，（g）为在格鲁吉亚儿童博物馆举办的以人类生物学和进化为重点的展览提供内容？（h）利用工程模型，限制未来需要使用活体动物的实验研究的需要，或至少提高其分析能力，（i）通过记录某些灵长类动物的生态与适应之间的关系，产生与保护工作有关的数据，（j）加强十所大学和两个国家的人类学家和工程师之间的合作，（k）提高工程界的认识，使他们了解如何将其方法应用于进化问题。