Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: The Paleoecology of the Pleistocene Upper Busidima Formation, Gona, Ethiopia

最近的假说强调了环境和气候变化作为原始人进化的驱动力的作用。为了验证这些假说，需要准确和精确地重建原始人类的古环境。该项目旨在重建戈纳古人类学研究项目研究区(埃塞俄比亚阿法尔凹陷)更新世上布西迪马组的古生态，在必要的地点尺度上解决关于微生境异质性的假说。通过这样做，这项研究将产生关于以前未描述的动物群材料的数据，并为更广泛地解释上布西迪马和阿法尔地区的原始人生物和技术进化创造一个生态框架。上布西迪马组的古生态将根据以下指标描述三个时间包中40个地点的特征：(1)对700个未公布的脊椎动物化石进行分类鉴定和描述，(2)根据中年分析和牙釉质稳定同位素分析重建牛型古饮食，(3)通过化石生物标志物的生物标记物分析和成壤碳酸盐的稳定同位素分析重建古植被。这些数据将使用地理信息系统(GIS)软件进行组合，以分析古生态的空间和时间模式，并评估多个古环境指标之间的一致性。这种方法将提供采样较差时期的古生态数据，检查古环境重建的方法学问题，并确定上Busidima FM的位置。在东非更新世更大的生态背景下。这一项目的结果将通过提供新的动物群材料以供比较，从而与广泛的古人类学研究相关。多种环境指标的对比将极大地促进古环境研究。此外，这项研究还强调了地理信息系统在记录、分析和可视化古生态数据方面的作用。最后，这里提出的研究代表着在非洲(埃塞俄比亚)和美国研究人员之间建立国际研究伙伴关系的重要一步，并将有助于在美国(印第安纳大学人类学和地质科学系，以及亚利桑那大学地质系)和埃塞俄比亚(埃塞俄比亚国家博物馆)的科学机构之间发展基础设施。由于共同派(Everett)是一个代表性不足的少数民族(女性西语裔)，这项研究将是一个关键的机会，以增加这一群体在高级科学研究中的代表性，并为她的研究事业发展提供一个平台。这项重要研究的结果将向更广泛的公众传播，广泛出版，并纳入若干课程的教学课程。这项研究的结果将与普通公众相关，帮助我们了解人类对长期环境变化的适应和反应，以及环境变化对人类人口的潜在影响。

Recent hypotheses have emphasized the roles of environmental and climatic variations as driving forces in hominid evolution. Accurate and precise reconstructions of hominid paleoenvironments are necessary to test such hypotheses. This project intends to reconstruct the paleoecology of the Pleistocene upper Busidima Formation of the Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project study area (Afar Depression, Ethiopia), at the locality scale necessary to address hypotheses of microhabitat heterogeneity. In doing so, this study will result in data on previously undescribed faunal material and create an ecological framework for the interpretation of hominid biological and technological evolution in the upper Busidima and Afar region more generally. The paleoecology of the upper Busidima Fm. will be characterized for 40 individual localities across three temporal packages, based on the following indicators: (1) taxonomic identification and description of 700 unpublished vertebrate fossils, (2) reconstruction of bovid paleodiets based on mesowear analysis and stable isotope analysis of tooth enamel, and (3) paleovegetation reconstruction via biomarker analysis of fossil biomarkers and stable isotope analysis of pedogenic carbonates. These data will be combined using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to analyze spatial and temporal patterns in paleoecology, and assess concordance among multiple paleoenvironmental indicators. This approach will provide paleoecological data for a poorly sampled time period, examine methodological issues in paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and situate the upper Busidima Fm. in the larger ecological context of Pleistocene East Africa. The outcome of this project will be relevant to a broad range of paleoanthropological studies by making new faunal material available for comparisons. Comparisons of multiple environmental indicators will significantly advance paleoenvironmental research. In addition, this study highlights the utility of GIS in documenting, analyzing, and visualizing paleoecological data. Finally, the researched proposed here represents an important step in building international research partnerships between African (Ethiopian) and U.S. researchers, and will help develop infrastructure among scientific institutions in the U.S. (Anthropology and Geological Sciences Departments at Indiana University, and Geology Department at the University of Arizona) and Ethiopia (National Museum of Ethiopia). As the co-PI (Everett) is an underrepresented minority (female Hispanic), this study will be a critical opportunity to increase representation of this group in advanced scientific research and provide a platform for development of her research career. The results of this important research will be disseminated to the broader public, published widely and integrated into teaching curricula in a number of courses. The results of this research will be relevant to the general public in helping us understand human adaptation and response to long-term environmental change, and the potential impact of environmental change on human populations.