Dental Analysis for Dietary Reconstruction

饮食重建的牙科分析

• 批准号: 1945008
• 负责人: Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg
• 金额: $ 12.44万
• 依托单位: Ohio State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-01-15 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1945008&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dental; Analysis; Dietary; Reconstruction

Paleoanthropologists who seek to understand dietary adaptations in human ancestors study modern non-human primates to identify links between dental structure and function. Enamel, the hard, outer covering of a tooth, is one of the most scrutinized aspects of dental anatomy because it interacts with food directly. This research explores how the thickness and structure of tooth enamel, which appear to change over short evolutionary time periods, relate to specific aspects of diet and tooth function in primates. To achieve this goal, this research leverages a collection of primate skeletons housed at The Ohio State University, consisting of Old World monkey skeletons from various field sites. Data on diet and tooth use associated with these skeletal remains provides opportunities to investigate how enamel variation in living primates relates to critical features of their diets and oral processing behavior. As a result of this work, a large collection of microCT scans (~ 400 teeth) and histological slides (60-80 teeth) of primates will be made available, thus enhancing infrastructure for both research and education. Involvement and training of undergraduates in this project contributes to the development of a STEM workforce. Communication of project findings via The Ohio State University's Anthropology Public Outreach Program will increase public engagement with science and technology. Finally, this research is associated with a local project, which has environmental, health, and educational benefits to community members.This project fills gaps in paleoanthropologists’ understanding of how enamel evolves in response to specific aspects of diet and oral processing behavior. Currently, thick enamel in primates presents an ambiguous functional signal, suggesting adaptation to hard and/or abrasive diets. This research investigates whether aspects of enamel thickness distribution, and the angles that enamel prisms make with tooth wear surfaces, are associated with hard-object feeding (i.e., durophagy), potentially providing a basis for inferring adaptation to durophagy in fossil species. Further confounding paleoanthropological interpretation of enamel thickness is that thick enamel may signify adaptation to either habitual durophagy or to the consumption of hard foods only during periods when softer foods are not available, a so-called “fallback” feeding strategy. This work more fully assesses enamel thickness in primates that are habitual vs. fallback hard-food consumers, asking whether there are differences in enamel thickness distribution and/or enamel prism orientation related to these two adaptations. Additionally, investigating potential developmental differences in the thick enamel of species that belong to different evolutionary lineages elucidates developmental pathways underlying enamel's ability to evolve over short evolutionary time spans. Finally, previous studies have suggested that in leaf-eating primates, selection for thin enamel constrains the evolution of enamel; this project more fully assesses this suggestion using a sample of leaf-eating primates with wide dietary variation. Altogether, research into these related questions elucidates selection pressures shaping overall enamel thickness, enamel thickness distribution, and enamel structure, providing insight into evolvability and constraint in these features. In turn, these insights will form a more robust foundation for paleoanthropological inference about dietary adaptation gleaned from tooth enamel.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

古人类学家试图了解人类祖先的饮食适应，他们研究现代非人类灵长类动物，以确定牙齿结构和功能之间的联系。牙釉质是牙齿的坚硬外壳，是牙齿解剖学中最受关注的方面之一，因为它直接与食物相互作用。这项研究探讨了牙齿釉质的厚度和结构，这似乎在很短的进化时间内发生变化，与灵长类动物饮食和牙齿功能的特定方面有关。为了实现这一目标，这项研究利用了俄亥俄州州立大学收藏的灵长类动物骨骼，其中包括来自各个野外地点的旧世界猴子骨骼。与这些骨骼遗骸相关的饮食和牙齿使用的数据提供了机会，以调查生活在灵长类动物的釉质变化如何与他们的饮食和口腔加工行为的关键特征。由于这项工作，将提供大量灵长类动物的microCT扫描（约400颗牙齿）和组织学切片（60-80颗牙齿），从而加强研究和教育的基础设施。参与和培训本科生在这个项目有助于STEM劳动力的发展。通过俄亥俄州州立大学的人类学公共外展计划传播项目结果将增加公众对科学和技术的参与。最后，这项研究与当地的一个项目有关，该项目对社区成员具有环境、健康和教育方面的好处。该项目填补了古人类学家对牙釉质如何响应饮食和口腔加工行为的特定方面而进化的理解方面的空白。目前，灵长类动物的厚牙釉质呈现出模糊的功能信号，表明适应硬和/或研磨性饮食。这项研究调查了牙釉质厚度分布的各个方面，以及牙釉质棱柱与牙齿磨损表面形成的角度，是否与硬物进食有关（即，durophagy），可能为推断化石物种对durophagy的适应提供基础。更令人困惑的是，古人类学对牙釉质厚度的解释是，厚牙釉质可能意味着适应习惯性硬食或只在软食物不可用的时期才食用硬食物，这是一种所谓的“后备”喂养策略。这项工作更全面地评估了灵长类动物的牙釉质厚度，这些灵长类动物是习惯性的与后备的硬食物消费者，询问是否存在与这两种适应相关的牙釉质厚度分布和/或牙釉质棱柱方向的差异。此外，调查属于不同进化谱系的物种的厚釉质中的潜在发育差异阐明了釉质在短进化时间跨度内进化的能力的潜在发育途径。最后，以前的研究表明，在食叶灵长类动物中，选择薄釉质限制了釉质的进化;本项目使用具有广泛饮食差异的食叶灵长类动物样本更全面地评估了这一建议。总之，对这些相关问题的研究阐明了选择压力塑造整体釉质厚度，釉质厚度分布和釉质结构，提供洞察这些功能的进化和约束。反过来，这些见解将为从牙釉质中收集的饮食适应性的古人类学推断形成更坚实的基础。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

项目成果

Molar form, enamel growth, and durophagy in Cercocebus and Lophocebus

• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24592
• 发表时间: 2022-07-19
• 期刊: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
• 作者: Guatelli-Steinberg, Debbie;Schwartz, Gary T.;O'Hara, Mackie C.;Gurian, Kaita;Rychel, Jess;McGraw, W. Scott
• 通讯作者: McGraw, W. Scott

Aspects of molar form and dietary proclivities of African colobines

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103384
• 发表时间: 2023-05-16
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
• 影响因子: 3.2
• 作者: Guatelli-Steinberg，Debbie;Schwartz，Gary T.;McGraw，W. Scott
• 通讯作者: McGraw，W. Scott