Understanding the forces that shaped the appearance and development of modern humans has been a leading goal of biological anthropology for decades. As technology has improved, our capability to investigate key questions about the factors affecting the shape of our anatomy have advanced significantly. Here, an interdisciplinary team of anthropologists and engineers will use engineering and experimental methods to examine how the shape of the skull has evolved in order to adapt to the forces associated with feeding on different types of food items. Specifically, the researchers will take a highly interdisciplinary approach to examining whether the skulls of these early humans were well designed to crack open and chew such hard, brittle objects. Dietary adaptations are thought to have been critical factors influencing the course of early human evolution, so this research project will provide valuable insights into the functional anatomy, diet, ecology and behavior of the earliest human ancestors.
With respect to intellectual merit, this project will: (a) examine the functional and evolutionary relationships between diet and skull form, (b) test a leading hypothesis explaining the evolution of the earliest humans, (c) collect and integrate multiple types of raw data critical to an understanding of feeding biomechanics, (d) develop methods for the rapid construction of engineering models that can be applied to research questions in a wide range of disciplines, (e) integrate ecological, comparative, experimental, and engineering techniques for the investigation of evolutionary questions, and (f) rapidly disseminate data, models and findings to the scientific community.
With respect to broader impacts, this study will: (a) promote interdisciplinarity, diversity and internationalism in science, (b) collect data about skull biomechanics that are relevant to dentistry and craniofacial medicine, (c) support the research of three junior investigators each in the first year of their academic appointments, (d) support female graduate students at several universities, (e) provide support to undergraduates at a university whose student body has a high proportion of minorities, (f) provide training for international students in developing nations (Brazil, Suriname), which will ultimately support the development of scientific infrastructure and institutions in those countries, (g) provide content to an exhibit focusing on human biology and evolution at the Georgia Children?s Museum, (h) using engineering models, limit the need for, or at least increase the analytical power of, future experimental studies requiring the use of live animals, (i) generate data relevant to conservation efforts by documenting the relationship between ecology and adaptation in certain primates, (j) strengthen collaborations between anthropologists and engineers in ten universities and two countries, (k) heighten awareness in the engineering community about how their methods are applicable to evolutionary questions.
" (BCS 0725136) focused on the ingestive behavior and food material properties of species of the genus Sapajus (formerly Cebus), the tufted capuchin monkeys. The relatively recent realization that species of the genus Sapajus exhibit a great deal of ecological, dietary, and morphological variation, while still all exploiting a subset of mechanically challenging fallback foods, made them an ideal taxon in which to investigate the range of possibilities afforded a craniofacially robust fallback forager. This is particularly relevant when inquiring into the dietary behavior of fossil hominins, which also exhibit a high degree of craniofacial variation and an array of different robust craniofacial configurations. Funds permit the training of both U.S. and international (Brazilian) graduate students in the collection of ingestive behavioral data and food material properties data. Two of the three proposed sites were well investigated. These include the site of Boa Vista, Piauí, Brazil, and Carlos Botelho State Park, São Paulo, Brazil. The former site is home to Sapajus libidinosus, the bearded capuchin, and is a semi-arid habitat where palms are exploited and opened with hammer stones. Although this species exploits very mechanically demanding foods, tools appear to provide primary access, given their relatively gracile craniofacial configuration. The latter habitat is home to Sapajus nigritus, the black-horned capuchin, and is a high evergreen tropical forest where the relatively robust S. nigritus falls back not on palm fruits, but on palm pith and bromeliad leaf bases. It appears that S. nigritus may represent the primitive condition for this taxon, suggesting that palm fruit use is derived, a notion that has not been previously argued. These findings also suggest that using a single genus to represent a single dietary pattern may not be warranted. Work at the third site, Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname was delayed given changes in governmental oversight at the park, but funds were used in the final year to census primates at the site, which also permit training of a U.S. graduate student in field techniques. Funding additionally permit further training for the PI in Finite Element Analysis, a principle tool for the larger collaborative grant, and permit training of a medical student at the PIs home institution in Finite Element Analysis leading to an in preparation publication examining the function of giant panda craniofacial form. Robust hominins have been argued to exhibit craniofacial adaptations similar to those of the giant panda making these findings relevant to the larger project.
