Doctoral Dissertation Research: Paleontological and population genetics approaches for reconstructing hominin evolutionary history

博士论文研究：重建古人类进化史的古生物学和群体遗传学方法

• 批准号: 2051014
• 负责人: David Strait
• 金额: $ 2.9万
• 依托单位: 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: 2021-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2051014&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Paleontological; population

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This doctoral dissertation project reconstructs evolutionary relationships among ancient populations of Homo erectus, a pivotal human ancestor, using dental and skeletal data. The project integrates paleontological and population genetics approaches for reconstructing evolutionary history, thereby advancing knowledge about how hominins, including our species, Homo sapiens, evolved. The project promotes interdisciplinarity by using approaches typically used in the field of bioarchaeology, increases diversity in the field of paleoanthropology by supporting the scholarship of a female paleoanthropologist, and fosters international research collaborations. The investigator conducts public and K-12 science outreach through a weblog about human evolution and through science activities with middle and high school students.Homo erectus, represented in the hominin fossil record, is morphologically diverse through both time and space. The current understanding of how populations of H. erectus were related to each other is limited. Bony and dental anatomy provide the primary basis for assessing evolutionary relationships between populations in the fossil record, but the genetic basis of anatomical traits is not always well understood. This research examines H. erectus temporal and geographic patterns in the relationships among past H. erectus populations using biodistance methods and comparative data. Matrices of dental and neurocranial shape distances will be compared separately using Mantel tests to a matrix describing the temporal, geographic, or genetic distances between populations.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.

该奖项是根据2021年《美国救援计划法》（公法117-2）全部或部分资助的。这个博士学位论文项目使用牙科和骨骼数据重建了一个关键的人类祖先的古代人群之间的进化关系。该项目整合了古生物学和人口遗传学方法，用于重建进化史，从而促进有关人类素的知识，包括我们的物种，同性恋，智人的进化。该项目通过使用通常在生物考察学领域使用的方法来促进跨学科性，通过支持女性古人类学家的奖学金，并培养国际研究合作，从而增加了古人类学领域的多样性。研究人员通过有关人类进化的博客以及与中学生的科学活动进行公共和K-12科学宣传。在人类化石记录中代表的Homo homo homo homo在时间和空间中都在形态上多样化。当前对直立烟草种群相互关系的当前理解是有限的。骨和牙科解剖学为评估化石记录中人群之间的进化关系提供了主要基础，但是解剖性状的遗传基础并不总是被很好地理解。这项研究研究了使用生物抗性方法和比较数据的过去直立种群之间关系中直立的时间和地理模式。牙齿和神经颅形距离的矩阵将使用MANTEL测试分别比较描述人口之间的时间，地理或遗传距离的矩阵。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评估来通过评估来获得支持的。