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Rowan J, Du A, Lundgren EJ, Faith JT, Beaudrot L, Campisano CJ, Joordens JC, Lazagabaster IA, Locke EM, Smail IE, Reed KE, Kamilar JM. Long-term biotic homogenization in the East African Rift System over the last 6 million years of hominin evolution. Nat Ecol Evol 2024:10.1038/s41559-024-02462-0. [PMID: 39009848 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02462-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2024] [Indexed: 07/17/2024]
Abstract
Eastern Africa preserves the most complete record of human evolution anywhere in the world but we have little knowledge of how long-term biogeographic dynamics in the region influenced hominin diversity and distributions. Here, we use spatial beta diversity analyses of mammal fossil records from the East African Rift System to reveal long-term biotic homogenization (increasing compositional similarity of faunas) over the last 6 Myr. Late Miocene and Pliocene faunas (~6-3 million years ago (Ma)) were largely composed of endemic species, with the shift towards biotic homogenization after ~3 Ma being driven by the loss of endemic species across functional groups and a growing number of shared grazing species. This major biogeographic transition closely tracks the regional expansion of grass-dominated ecosystems. Although grazers exhibit low beta diversity in open environments of the Early Pleistocene, the high beta diversity of Mio-Pliocene browsers and frugivores occurred in the context of extensive woody vegetation. We identify other key aspects of the Late Cenozoic biogeographic development of eastern Africa, their likely drivers and place the hominin fossil record in this context. Because hominins were undoubtedly influenced by many of the same factors as other eastern African mammals, this provides a new perspective on the links between environmental and human evolutionary histories.
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Affiliation(s)
- John Rowan
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Andrew Du
- Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Erick J Lundgren
- Centre for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - J Tyler Faith
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Lydia Beaudrot
- Department of Biosciences, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
- Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
- Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Christopher J Campisano
- Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Josephine C Joordens
- Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
- Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands
- Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Ignacio A Lazagabaster
- CENIEH (National Research Center on Human Evolution), Burgos, Spain
- Department of Evolution, Ecology & Behaviour, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Ellis M Locke
- Department of Anatomy, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, Idaho, ID, USA
| | - Irene E Smail
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Lewisburg, WV, USA
| | - Kaye E Reed
- Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Jason M Kamilar
- Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
- Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
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Boës X, Van Bocxlaer B, Prat S, Feibel C, Lewis J, Arrighi V, Taylor N, Harmand S. Aridity, availability of drinking water and freshwater foods, and hominin and archeological sites during the Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene in the western region of the Turkana Basin (Kenya): A review. J Hum Evol 2024; 186:103466. [PMID: 38134581 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Revised: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
Although the Turkana Basin is one of the driest regions of the East African Rift, its Plio-Pleistocene sediments are rich in freshwater vertebrates and invertebrates, providing evidence that freshwater resources were available to hominins in this region during the Plio-Pleistocene (4.2-0.7 Ma). Here we provide an overview of the hydroconnectivity of the Turkana Basin. We then review the period during which freshwater river and lake systems expanded into the western region of the Turkana Basin, where hominin and archeological sites have been discovered in sediments dating back to the Late Pliocene-Pleistocene. Freshwater conditions are reconstructed from river and lake sediments and the flora and micro- and macofauna they contain. Data synthesis suggests that drinking water and freshwater foods prevailed in the western region of the Turkana Basin at 4.20-3.98 Ma, 3.70-3.10 Ma, 2.53-2.22 Ma, then between 2.10 and 1.30 Ma and intermittently from 1.27 to 0.75 Ma. Milestones in hominin evolution occurred in this context, such as the first occurrence of Australopithecus anamensis (4.20-4.10 Ma) and Kenyanthropus platyops (3.50 Ma and 3.30-3.20 Ma), the presence of Paranthropus aethiopicus (2.53-2.45 Ma), early Homo (2.33 Ma), Paranthropus boisei (2.25 Ma and 1.77-1.72 Ma) and Homo ergaster/Homo erectus (1.75 Ma, 1.47-1.42 Ma and 1.10-0.90 Ma). Developments in hominin behavior also occurred during this timeframe, including the first known stone tools (3.30 Ma), the oldest Oldowan sites (2.34 Ma and 2.25 Ma) in the Turkana Basin, the earliest known evidence for the emergence of bifacial shaping in eastern Africa (1.80 Ma), and the first known Acheulean site (1.76 Ma). Our synthesis suggests that, diachronic variation in hydroconnectivity played a role on the amount of drinking water and freshwater foods available in the western region of the Turkana Basin, despite regional aridity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xavier Boës
- Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (INRAP), 140 Avenue Du Maréchal Leclerc, 33323 Bordeaux-Bègles, France; CNRS/MNHN/UPVD, Alliance Sorbonne Université, UMR 7194, Musée de L'Homme, Palais Chaillot, 17 Place Du Trocadéro, 75116 Paris Cedex 16, France; Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
| | | | - Sandrine Prat
- CNRS/MNHN/UPVD, Alliance Sorbonne Université, UMR 7194, Musée de L'Homme, Palais Chaillot, 17 Place Du Trocadéro, 75116 Paris Cedex 16, France
| | - Craig Feibel
- Department of Anthropology and Center for Human Evolutionary Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
| | - Jason Lewis
- Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Chronicle Heritage, 319 E Palm Lane, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
| | - Vincent Arrighi
- Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (INRAP), 13 Rue Du Négoce, 31650 Orens de Gameville, France
| | - Nicholas Taylor
- Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Turkana University College, Lodwar Rd., Lodwar, Kenya
| | - Sonia Harmand
- Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; Laboratoire TRACES-UMR 5608, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Maison de La Recherche, 5 Allée Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse, France; Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique (IFRA), UMIFRE, USR 3336, CNRS, Laikipia Road, Kileleshwa, Nairobi, Kenya
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Quinn RL, Lepre CJ. C 4 plant food loss probably influenced Paranthropus boisei's extinction: A reply to Patterson et al.'s commentary on Quinn and Lepre (2021). J Hum Evol 2022; 173:103269. [PMID: 36270813 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 09/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rhonda L Quinn
- School of Earth, Environment and Society, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 43402, USA.
| | - Christopher J Lepre
- School of Earth, Environment and Society, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 43402, USA
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