Doctoral Dissertation: Geometric Morphometric Analysis of the Infraorbital Region of Great Apes and Modern and Extinct Humans

这个项目是对已灭绝的原始人类、现代人类和类人猿的眶下区域进行三维度量分析。 主要目标是使用3-D地标数据在灭绝的人类的系统发育分析。 度量变异和在系统发育分析中使用数量性状的问题将得到必要的解决，因为它们与人类的进化有关。这个项目的智力价值的一个方面是，它提供了对人类面部形态的详细检查，广泛认为这在解释人类的进化历史中起着重要作用，但技术允许解剖学的度量描述和定量方法，允许详细检查特定字符。 此外，本计画特别重新检视南方古猿非洲种（Australopithecus africanus）、南方古猿A. robustus和A.这是Yoel Rak在发现KNM-WT 17000之后提出的。 该项目的一个优点是，它应用了技术和统计方法，允许对历史上定量描述的解剖结构进行复杂的度量描述。 此外，它利用了潜在的解决系统发育问题的三维地标数据打破地标数据成子集。 这些子集描述了多个人类分类群中特定特征的变异、相似性和相异性。 虽然几何形态测量学的使用越来越普遍，进化生物学家还没有充分利用这些技术解决进化系统学问题的潜力。 通过展示一个密集的解剖标志集，可以细分，以代表个别字符的变化的效用，这项研究将作为一个模型，在系统发育研究中使用的几何形态测量数据。这一项目的更广泛影响将是传播从研究中得出的信息。 方法和初步结果将在现场数据收集过程中向博物馆工作人员和感兴趣的非科学当地各方介绍。 为了确保信息被分发给广泛的科学和非科学界，最终结果将分发给来自美国和化石原产国的学术期刊以及非学术期刊。 来自化石来源国的期刊，如《埃塞俄比亚研究杂志》，将向更广泛的非科学受众提供这些材料。 化石人类是起源国当地人的骄傲，传播关于这些化石在了解所有人类进化史方面的重要性的信息是增加对人类进化史的知识和教育兴趣的一个组成部分。

This project is a three-dimensional metric analysis of the infraorbital region of extinct hominins, modern humans, and great apes. The primary goal is to use 3-D landmark data in a phylogenetic analysis of extinct hominins. Issues of metric variation and the use of quantitative characters in phylogenetic analyses will be necessarily addressed as they relate to hominin phylogenyOne aspect of the intellectual merit of this project is that it provides for a detailed examination of hominin facial morphology widely acknowledged to play an important role in interpretations of the evolutionary history of the hominins, but with technologies that allow metric description of the anatomy and quantitative methods that permit detailed examination of specific characters. Furthermore, this project specifically reexamines important hypotheses of homology for facial anatomy in Australopithecus africanus, A. robustus, and A. boisei articulated by Yoel Rak, particularly in light of the discovery of KNM-WT 17000. One advantage of this project is that it applies technologies and statistical methods that allow sophisticated metric description of anatomy that has historically been described quantitatively. Furthermore, it takes advantage of the potential for addressing phylogenetic issues with three-dimensional landmark data by breaking the landmark data into subsets. These subsets describe the variation, and similarity and dissimilarity, of specific characters across multiple hominin taxa. Although the use of geometric morphometrics is becoming widespread, evolutionary biologists have not taken full advantage of the potential for addressing issues in evolutionary systematics with these technologies. By demonstrating the utility of a dense anatomical landmark set that can be subdivided to represent the variation of individual characters, this study will serve as a model for the use of geometric morphometric data in phylogenetic studies. The broader impact of this project will be in the dissemination of information derived from the study. Methods and preliminary results will be presented to museum personnel and interested non-scientific local parties during on-site data collection. To ensure that the information is distributed to a wide scientific and non-scientific community, final results will be distributed to scholarly journals from both the United States and the countries of origin of the fossils, and non-scholarly journals. Periodicals from the countries of the fossils' origin, such as the Journal of Ethiopian Studies, will be presented the material for distribution to a broader, non-scientific, audience. Fossil hominins are a source of great local pride in the countries of origin, and the dissemination of information on the importance of these fossils in understanding the evolutionary history of all humans is an integral aspect of increasing knowledge of and educational interest in human evolutionary history.