Doctoral Dissertation Research: Tooth biomechanics in Hominins and Extant Primates

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。这个博士论文项目推进了有关现存灵长类动物和化石古人类的牙根形状变异与进食适应之间关系的知识，以推进有关人类进化过程中进食和饮食的知识。该项目使用的方法，并与来自古生物学，人类学，解剖学和灵长类动物学等各个领域的合作者合作，为理解人类进化提供整合和跨学科的视角。该项目支持研究生和本科生培训，包括来自STEM研究中代表性不足的群体的个人，研究人员制定了学生和公共科学宣传活动计划，并为灵长类动物保护工作做出了贡献。灵长类动物学和古人类学的先前工作已经考虑了牙冠形状如何影响进食过程中加工食物的效率。然而，牙齿受到同样重要的竞争性功能限制;虽然牙齿必须发挥破碎食物的功能，但它们也必须避免自己骨折。这个提议试图回答：1）前臼齿形态的变化是否与在进食机械抗性食物时抵抗牙齿断裂有关; 2）前臼齿形态的变化是否解释了化石人类中机械显著的进食行为。该项目整合了形态测量和工程分析，再加上观察行为数据，以测试有关前磨牙根形的功能关系的假设，这是许多关于早期人类发育和适应的假设中的一个特征。该项目还集成了多种类型的数据分析，包括生物力学分析，三维形状分析和灵长类动物行为视频分析，确保了一个强大而全面的方法。此外，该奖项还包括生物医学科学与工程、生物人类学、解剖学、灵长类动物学和进化生物学等多个领域的方法，为这些学科的科学家之间的合作提供了可能性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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 advances knowledge about the relationship between tooth root shape variation and feeding adaptations in living primates and fossil hominins, to advance knowledge about feeding and diet during human evolution. The project uses methods and works with collaborators from a variety of fields including paleontology, anthropology, anatomy, and primatology, providing integration and cross-disciplinary perspectives for understanding human evolution. The project supports graduate and undergraduate training, including individuals from groups underrepresented in STEM research, and the investigator has developed student and public science outreach activities plans well as contributing to primate conservation efforts. Previous work in primatology and paleoanthropology has considered how tooth crown shape affects the efficiency of processing foods during feeding. However, teeth are subject to an equally important, competing functional constraint; while teeth must function to fracture food items, they must also avoid being fractured themselves. This proposal seeks to answer whether: 1) variation in premolar form is mechanically related to resisting tooth fracture during feeding on mechanically resistant foods; and 2) variation in premolar tooth form explains mechanically significant feeding behavior in fossil hominins. The project integrates morphometric and engineering analyses coupled with observational behavioral data to test hypotheses concerning the functional relationships of premolar root form, a character featured in many hypotheses about early hominin phylogeny and adaptation. The project also integrates multiple types of data analysis including biomechanical analyses, three-dimensional shape analyses and primate behavior videographic analyses, ensuring a robust and comprehensive approach. Additionally, methodologies from several fields are incorporated, including biomedical science and engineering, biological anthropology, anatomy, primatology, and evolutionary biology, which provides the potential for collaboration among scientists across these disciplines.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.