Collaborative Research: Experimental assessment of dental microwear formation

合作研究：牙齿微磨损形成的实验评估

• 批准号: 1717250
• 负责人: David Strait
• 金额: $ 6.47万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1717250&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Experimental; assessment; dental

It is widely understood that the evolution of hominins was strongly influenced by diet, and yet there continues to be a debate about precisely which types of foods were eaten by them. In particular, it is unclear whether the massive jaws and huge teeth of these early humans evolved to process hard foods like nuts and seeds, or tough, fibrous foods that might have included grasses. An important piece of evidence in this debate comes from the microscopic damage done to teeth by food, and particles of grit that may adhere to food. This study conducts experiments designed to evaluate how patterns of such microscopic damage should be interpreted in order to reconstruct diet in fossil humans. This study will have broad implications, including 1) improving our understanding of why humans evolved, 2) evaluating established methods, and developing new methods, of reconstructing diet in extinct animals, which in turn may influence our understanding of ancient environments and how they changed over time, and 3) providing an experimental basis for interpreting feeding behavior in both prehistoric and historic human populations. The project also supports the research of PIs at diverse career stages, including an early-career female researcher, as well as graduate, undergraduate, and volunteer high school students (in collaboration with local university and community programs like the Vanderbilt School for Science and Math). All students will receive mentoring in performing and communicating results of scientific research (high school students will also publish in the Young Scientist journal), professional development skills, and improving their ability and desire to implement research, education and outreach activities as future professionals.Experiments will use suid and ovid models to evaluate the effect on tooth surfaces of varying toughness and hardness of foods, as well as the hardness and size of abrasive particles like sand, seed shell fragments and other very hard plant parts. The microscopic damage done to teeth will be assessed using surface scans and nanomechanical force microscopy, and statistical methods will be used to determine whether foods, particles, or an interaction between them drives patterns of damage. This, in turn, will allow an evaluation of the causes of damage patterns seen in the teeth of fossil humans, which will in turn allow a more precise assessment of the diets of early humans. The damage on the teeth will then be assessed on a nano-scale in order to determine if a new method of dietary reconstruction can be developed based on a characterization of individuals wear marks.

众所周知，人类蛋白的进化受到饮食的强烈影响，但仍然有关于精确食用哪种食物的辩论。 特别是，尚不清楚这些早期人类的巨大下巴和巨大的牙齿是否演变为加工坚果和种子等硬食，或可能包括草的坚硬，纤维状食物。 这场辩论中的一个重要证据来自食物对牙齿造成的微观损害，以及可能遵守食物的砂砾颗粒。 这项研究进行了旨在评估如何解释这种微观损害模式以重建化石人类饮食的实验。 这项研究将具有广泛的含义，包括1）提高我们对人类为何发展的理解，2）评估既定的方法和开发新方法，以灭绝动物重建饮食，进而影响我们对古代环境的理解以及它们如何随着时间的变化，以及3）提供了在史前史前和历史悠久的人类群体中解释喂养行为的实验基础。 该项目还支持在各种职业阶段的PIS研究，包括早期的女性研究员，以及研究生，本科生和志愿者高中生（与当地大学和范德比尔特科学与数学学校等社区计划合作）。 All students will receive mentoring in performing and communicating results of scientific research (high school students will also publish in the Young Scientist journal), professional development skills, and improving their ability and desire to implement research, education and outreach activities as future professionals.Experiments will use suid and ovid models to evaluate the effect on tooth surfaces of varying toughness and hardness of foods, as well as the hardness and size of abrasive particles like sand, seed shell fragments and other very hard植物零件。 将使用表面扫描和纳米力学显微镜评估对牙齿的显微镜损伤，并将使用统计方法来确定食物，颗粒或之间的相互作用是否驱动损害模式。反过来，这将允许评估化石人类牙齿中损害模式的原因，这反过来又可以更精确地评​​估早期人类的饮食。 然后，将在纳米尺度上评估牙齿的损害，以确定是否可以根据个人的磨损标记来开发新的饮食重建方法。