Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Faunal Remains As An Environmental Reconstruction Tool

博士论文改进奖：动物遗迹作为环境重建工具

• 批准号: 1565637
• 负责人: Darryl de Ruiter
• 金额: $ 0.78万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-03-15 至 2018-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1565637&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Award; Faunal

Many theories of hominin behavioral and morphological evolution focus on the environments occupied by early members of our lineage in order to provide an adaptive context for major evolutionary events. One way in which past environments are inferred is through the analysis of fossilized animal remains, with mammals featuring prominently. In many studies, recovered cranial and dental remains are analyzed in order to reconstruct past faunal communities from which past environmental conditions are then inferred. An alternate method involves analyses of postcranial (e.g. femora and humeri) elements within an ecological functional framework linking skeletal morphology to locomotory patterns and habitat use. While studies of craniodental remains from smaller mammals, such as rodents, have contributed to understanding of the past, analyses of their postcrania have lagged behind those of other groups, such as African antelopes. As rodents are the most abundant and ecologically diverse group of modern mammals, this project will address this issue and test whether this currently underutilized source of data can be used to reconstruct past environments. By generating an accessible comparative database, the results from this study will be applicable to not only reconstructions of paleoenvironments occupied by early human ancestors, but also archaeological studies and can be adapted for modern small mammal biodiversity surveys and habitat monitoring. This study will also provide public science outreach through presentations in both the U.S. and Africa. These presentations will build upon current collaborations with various institutions and contribute to undergraduate, graduate, and public understating of the natural history of the region. Finally, this project provides graduate training for the Co-PI and undergraduate training through the enrollment of students in Department of Anthropology's Graduate-Undergraduate Mentorship Program at Texas A&M University. Utilizing several different methods, this study tests whether analyses of African rodent postcrania can provide useful data for reconstructing past environments. First, using both traditional linear measurements and two-dimensional outlines from digital photographs, this study tests if modern rodent postcrania can be used to identify what taxa (i.e. genus and species) are present, and thus can be used in a similar manner as craniodental remains to reconstruct rodent community composition. Second, traditional linear measurements will also be utilized to test if modern rodent postcrania can be used to assess locomotory patterns within an ecological functional framework to infer habitat use. The correspondence in environmental signals obtained between these two approaches (taxonomic and ecological functional) will then be assessed. After compiling a modern comparative dataset, fossilized rodent postcrania from the South African hominin-bearing sites of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans will be subjected to a dual taxonomic and ecological functional based analysis in order to test previously proposed paleoenvironmental signals that have used other proxy data, including rodent craniodental remains. This study will improve our ability to reconstruct past environments associated with early hominin remains through analyses of a currently underutilized source of data, rodent postcrania, and will help clarify the environmental context at two sites important to our understanding of human evolution.

许多古人类行为和形态进化理论都关注我们谱系早期成员所占据的环境，以便为重大进化事件提供适应性环境。推断过去环境的一种方法是通过对动物化石遗骸的分析，其中哺乳动物是突出的。在许多研究中，对回收的颅骨和牙齿遗骸进行分析，以重建过去的动物群落，然后从中推断过去的环境条件。另一种方法涉及在将骨骼形态与运动模式和栖息地利用联系起来的生态功能框架内分析颅后（例如股骨和肱骨）元素。虽然对啮齿动物等小型哺乳动物的颅齿遗骸的研究有助于了解过去，但对其后颅骨的分析却落后于非洲羚羊等其他群体的分析。由于啮齿类动物是现代哺乳动物中数量最多、生态多样化的群体，因此该项目将解决这个问题，并测试目前未充分利用的数据源是否可以用于重建过去的环境。通过生成一个可访问的比较数据库，这项研究的结果不仅适用于重建早期人类祖先所居住的古环境，也适用于考古研究，并可适用于现代小型哺乳动物生物多样性调查和栖息地监测。这项研究还将通过在美国和非洲的演讲提供公共科学推广。这些演讲将建立在当前与各机构的合作基础上，有助于本科生、研究生和公众了解该地区的自然历史。最后，该项目通过在德克萨斯农工大学人类学系的研究生-本科生导师计划中招收学生，为 Co-PI 提供研究生培训和本科生培训。 本研究利用几种不同的方法，测试对非洲啮齿动物颅后的分析是否可以为重建过去的环境提供有用的数据。首先，本研究使用传统的线性测量和数码照片中的二维轮廓，测试现代啮齿动物颅后是否可用于识别存在哪些类群（即属和种），从而可以以与颅齿遗骸类似的方式用于重建啮齿动物群落组成。其次，传统的线性测量也将用于测试现代啮齿动物颅后是否可用于评估生态功能框架内的运动模式，以推断栖息地的利用。然后将评估这两种方法（分类学和生态功能）之间获得的环境信号的对应关系。在编译了现代比较数据集后，来自南非斯泰克方丹和斯沃特克兰斯古人类遗址的啮齿动物后颅骨化石将接受基于双重分类学和生态功能的分析，以测试先前提出的使用其他代理数据（包括啮齿动物颅齿遗骸）的古环境信号。这项研究将通过分析目前未充分利用的数据源——啮齿动物后颅骨，提高我们重建与早期人类遗骸相关的过去环境的能力，并将有助于澄清对我们理解人类进化很重要的两个地点的环境背景。