Primate Paleoenvironments in the East African Early Miocene

卡他猴是一组灵长类动物，包括类尾猴、猿猴和人类。我的研究重点是了解这些灵长类动物的进化，特别是为什么猴子和猿类有如此不同的适应能力，以及古代环境是如何塑造这些适应能力的。我的大部分研究集中在东非早中新世(约23-16 Ma)的化石记录上，因为这是猿和猴子分化的时间和地点，而丰富的卡他灵长类化石记录很好地代表了这一进化事件。*这个为期5年的项目的目标是了解整个早中新世东非环境的变化如何影响卡他龙的进化。我将既考虑卡他进化的自然环境，也考虑生物景观(例如群落结构)。我将在西图尔卡纳(肯尼亚)的化石地点进行野外工作，这些地点采集了肯尼亚中新世早期(16.8-17.5 Ma)鲜为人知的地层间隔。田野调查收集的数据，结合东非其他中新世地区的现有数据，将被用来检验中新世卡他灵长类动物生活在各种环境中，并利用更开放的栖息地的假设。传统上，早期的卡他灵长类动物被认为生活在森林栖息地，因此这将代表着适应环境的根本转变。*我和我的学员将通过三个相互关联的项目来检验这一核心假设。首先，我们将开发改进的工具，通过检查有蹄类肢体和牙齿的生态形态来研究环境变化。其次，我们将把从这些新的生态地貌分析中收集的数据与地质数据和牙釉质的同位素分析结合起来，以表征我们西图尔卡纳化石所在地的当地环境条件。最后，我们将把西图尔卡纳新的环境数据与东非其他早中新世化石地点的现有数据结合起来，在大的时间和空间尺度上检查环境和生物变化。这些综合分析产生的数据集将提供一个强大的工具，用于研究气候变化随时间的变化，以确定它如何映射到灵长类群落和适应的变化。*这项研究计划具有变革性，因为它有可能从根本上改变我们对非洲类人猿(包括我们自己的祖先)原始适应生态位的理解。我将开发新的生态地貌学工具，并应用尖端分析方法来研究当地和区域时空尺度上的环境变化。由于我研究的灵长类化石包括人类血统的可能祖先，这项研究的结果也将对理解人类过去和未来如何适应气候变化具有更广泛的影响。**

The catarrhines are the group of primates comprising the cercopithecoid monkeys, apes, and humans. My research program is focused on understanding the evolution of these primates, in particular why monkeys and apes have such different adaptations, and how ancient environments have shaped those adaptions. Much of my research focuses on the fossil record from the early Miocene of East Africa (~23 - 16 Ma) because this is the time and place where apes and monkeys diverge, and this evolutionary event is well represented by a rich catarrhine primate fossil record.***The goal of this 5-year project is to understand how changes in East African environments throughout the early Miocene have impacted catarrhine evolution. I will consider both the physical environments that catarrhines evolved in, but also the biotic landscape (e.g. community structure). I will conduct fieldwork at fossil localities in West Turkana (Kenya) that sample a poorly known stratigraphic interval in the early Miocene of Kenya (16.8 - 17.5 Ma). The data collected from fieldwork, combined with existing data from other East African Miocene localities, will be used to test the hypothesis that Miocene catarrhine primates lived in a variety of environments, and were utilizing more open habitats. Traditionally, early catarrhine primates were thought to have lived in forested habitats, so this would represent a fundamental shift in adaptation. ***My trainees and I will test this central hypothesis through three interconnected projects. First, we will develop improved tools for studying environmental change by examining the ecomorphology of ungulate limbs and teeth. Second, we will combine the data collected from these novel ecomorphological analyses with geological data and isotopic analyses of tooth enamel in order to characterize local environmental conditions at our West Turkana fossil localities. Finally, we will combine this new environmental data for West Turkana with existing data from other early Miocene fossil localities in East Africa to examine environmental and biotic change on a large temporal and spatial scale. The dataset generated from these integrated analyses will provide a powerful tool for examining climate change through time to determine how it maps on to changes in primate communities and adaptations.***This research program is transformative because of its potential to fundamentally alter our understanding of the original adaptive niche of the African apes, including our own ancestors. I will develop new ecomorphological tools and apply cutting edge analytical methods to study environmental change on both local and regional spatial and temporal scales. Because the fossil primates I study include the likely ancestors of the human lineage, the results of this research will also have broader implications for understanding how humans have adapted to climate change in the past and will continue to do so in the future.**