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Author Spotlight: Understanding Microbe Adaptation Using Innovative Techniques for Exploring Thermophilic Evolution

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Early hominins evolved within non-analog ecosystems.

J Tyler Faith^1,2, John Rowan³, Andrew Du⁴

¹Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108; jfaith@nhmu.utah.edu.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|October 9, 2019

Summary

Modern African ecosystems are poor analogs for early hominin evolution. Ancient herbivore communities were functionally non-analog until around 700,000 years ago due to megaherbivores and non-ruminants.

Keywords:

functional traits megaherbivore non-analog faunas paleoanthropology paleoecology

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Area of Science:

Paleoecology
Paleoanthropology
Mammalian Ecology

Background:

African ecosystems are used as models for early hominin evolution.
The representativeness of modern ecosystems for past environments is uncertain.

Observation:

Eastern African fossil records show large mammalian herbivore communities with ecological structures vastly different from today.
Modern communities may not be suitable analogs for ancient hominin evolution ecosystems.

Findings:

Analysis of 305 modern and fossil herbivore communities (last ~7 Myr) reveals functional trait changes.
Pre-~700 ka communities were functionally non-analog, with higher richness of non-ruminants and megaherbivores (>1,000 kg).
Functionally modern communities emerged before taxonomically modern ones, influenced by C4 grassland expansion and aridity post-~1 Ma.

Implications:

Most early hominin evolution occurred in ecosystems functionally distinct from modern ones.
Understanding past ecosystem differences is crucial for conceptualizing ancient African environments.
This research aids in testing ecological hypotheses of hominin evolution.