Examining the relationship between an increasingly carnivorous Homo erectus and Pleistocene mammal extinctions.

研究日益食肉的直立人与更新世哺乳动物灭绝之间的关系。

• 批准号: 2039759
• 负责人: William Barr
• 金额: $ 9.01万
• 依托单位: George Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-06-01 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2039759&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Examining; relationship; between; increasingly; carnivorous

Modern humans have an unparalleled capacity to modify their ecosystems. When and how humans obtained this ability is uncertain. This project seeks to clarify the timing and nature of human ecosystem modification over the course of human evolutionary history. Specifically, this project examines the potential impacts of a new emphasis on meat-eating by Pleistocene Homo erectus on mammal communities using a quantitative, food-web approach, informed by studies of the anatomy and isotopic composition of fossil predators with which human ancestors competed for access to meat. The project broadens participation in paleoanthropology by creating new opportunities for student research, enhances international, multidisciplinary research collaborations, and disseminates results broadly, including public-facing outreach events. The Ancient Hominin Impacts Hypothesis (AHIH) states that meat-eating by Homo erectus caused profound impacts on Pleistocene mammal communities, driving both large herbivore prey species, and competing predators to extinction. However, at the time Homo erectus first appeared, the region in which they appeared was experiencing climate-driven grassland expansions, which may also have contributed to extinctions in predators and prey. It is currently unknown whether environmental change, human impacts, or a combination of both best explains the observed Pleistocene mammal extinctions. This project tests the AHIH using a paleo food webs approach at the site where Homo erectus first appears in the fossil record. Anatomical and isotopic studies of local carnivores reveal which herbivore species extinct carnivore consumed, informing a quantitative paleo food-web model of the local community. The outputs of numerical food-web modeling experiments will be compared to the predictions the AHIH to reveal what impact, if any, human ancestors had on Pleistocene mammal communities. The project expands an understanding of the evolutionary significance of meat eating to ecosystem modification.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.

现代人类拥有无与伦比的能力来改变他们的生态系统。人类何时以及如何获得这种能力是不确定的。该项目旨在澄清人类进化历史过程中人类生态系统改变的时间和性质。具体而言，该项目研究了更新世直立人对哺乳动物群落食肉的新重点的潜在影响，使用定量的食物网方法，通过对化石捕食者的解剖学和同位素组成的研究来了解，人类祖先与之竞争获得肉类。该项目通过为学生研究创造新的机会，扩大了古人类学的参与，加强了国际多学科研究合作，并广泛传播成果，包括面向公众的外联活动。古人类影响假说（AHIH）指出，直立人的食肉行为对更新世哺乳动物群落造成了深远的影响，导致大型食草动物和竞争性捕食者灭绝。然而，在直立人首次出现的时候，他们出现的地区正在经历气候驱动的草原扩张，这也可能有助于捕食者和猎物的分离。目前尚不清楚是否是环境变化，人类影响，或两者的组合最好地解释了观察到的更新世哺乳动物灭绝。该项目使用古食物网方法在直立人首次出现在化石记录中的地点测试AHIH。对当地食肉动物的解剖学和同位素研究揭示了灭绝的食肉动物消耗的食草动物物种，为当地社区的定量古食物网模型提供了信息。数值食物网建模实验的结果将与AHIH的预测进行比较，以揭示人类祖先对更新世哺乳动物群落的影响。该项目扩大了对食肉对生态系统改造的进化意义的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。