Using Primate Comparative Biology to Understand Human Uniqueness

生物学中的一个基本问题是物种之间的差异。 也许没有什么比生物人类学领域更突出的了，研究人员研究人类如何以及为什么不同于其他灵长类动物，通常假设人类特征是由一系列独特的力量造成的，这些力量使我们的血统特别成功。 相对于其他灵长类动物，人类在许多方面都是独特的，包括语言的使用，令人印象深刻的解决问题的能力，以及累积的文化进化。 其他生物学特征--如生活史和生理学--是如何催化这些重大变化的还不太清楚。 我们独特的认知能力是仅仅源于一些潜在的生物学变化，还是源于许多变化？ 它们之间有什么联系，又是如何相互关联的呢？ 这项研究的中心目标是严格识别人类中特殊的生物特征，因此对我们非凡成功所涉及的其他特征很重要。 这一目标将通过深入，先进的分析范围广泛的重要变量，涉及大脑大小，寿命和相关特征，以及关键的生理变量，如免疫系统特征和体温来实现。 研究小组还将调查寄生虫和病原体，这些寄生虫和病原体被假设在人类中非常丰富，但已知会抑制认知能力。 将开发两种新的统计方法。 一组方法基于在非人灵长类动物中估计的统计模型来预测人类的性状值，然后评估在智人中观察到的值是否偏离预测值。 第二组方法调查进化树不同部分的进化速率。 根据人类的生物学特征相对于非人类灵长类动物是特殊的这一假设，预期该特征的进化变化率会沿着人类的谱系。就智力价值而言，这项研究将开辟新的途径，更好地将非人类灵长类动物的研究融入我们对人类进化的理解中。 在这个过程中，研究将解决这样一个问题，即导致人类独特性和成功的基本生物学特征是什么？ 这些新方法补充了现有的研究化石记录的方法，并提供了研究不具有生物学特征的特征的方法，包括行为和生态特征。 该研究还将支持重要的更广泛的影响，特别是为下一代年轻科学家提供统计和数据库方面的实践培训，并为这些发展中的科学家提供扩大生物学和人类学知识的机会。 研究小组还将建立新的灵长类和人类特征数据库，使其他科学家和学生能够调查生物人类学领域重要的其他研究问题。 最后，研究人员将在资助的最后一年组织一次会议专题讨论会，分享这一努力的成果，并促进今后的扩展。

A fundamental question in biology concerns the ways that species differ from one another. Perhaps nowhere is this more prominent than in the field of biological anthropology, where researchers investigate how and why humans differ from other primates, often under the assumption that human traits resulted from a unique constellation of forces that made our lineage particularly successful. Humans are clearly unique in many ways relative to other primates, including use of language, impressive problem-solving abilities, and cumulative cultural evolution. It is less clear how other biological traits - such as life history and physiology - have catalyzed these major changes. Have our unique cognitive abilities arisen from only a few underlying biological changes, or many changes? Which traits are involved, and how do they relate to one another? The central goal of this research to rigorously identify biological traits that are exceptional in humans, and thus important to other traits involved in our extraordinary success. This goal will be achieved through in-depth, advanced analyses of a wide range of important variables involving brain size, lifespan and related traits, and key physiological variables, such as immune system characteristics and body temperature. The research team will also investigate parasites and pathogens, which have been hypothesized to be super-abundant in humans, yet are known to depress cognitive performance. Two new statistical approaches will be developed. One set of methods predicts trait values in humans based on a statistical model estimated in non-human primates, and then evaluates whether the observed value in Homo sapiens departs from the predicted value. A second set of methods investigates evolutionary rates on different parts of an evolutionary tree. Under the hypothesis that a biological trait is exceptional in humans relative to non-human primates, elevated rates of evolutionary change in that trait are expected along the lineage leading to humans. In terms of intellectual merit, the research will open new avenues to better integrate studies of non-human primates into our understanding of human evolution. In the process, the research will address the question, what are the fundamental biological traits that have lead to human uniqueness and success? The new methods complement existing approaches to studying the fossil record, and they provide ways to investigate traits that do not fossilize, including behavioral and ecological traits. The research also will support important broader impacts, especially involving hands-on training in statistics and databases for the next generation of young scientists, and opportunities for these developing scientists to expand their knowledge of biology and anthropology. The research team also will produce new databases of primate and human characteristics that enable other scientists and students to investigate additional research questions important in the fields of biological anthropology. Finally, the investigator will organize a conference symposium in the final year of funding to share the results of this effort and stimulate future extensions of it