Behavior drives morphological change during human evolution

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fannin, Luke D.; Seyoum, Chalachew M.; Venkataraman, Vivek V.; Yeakel, Justin D.; Janis, Christine M.; Cerling, Thure E.; Dominy, Nathaniel J.
• 署名单位: Dartmouth College; Dartmouth College; University of Arizona; University of Calgary; University of California System; University of California Merced; The Santa Fe Institute; Brown University; University of Bristol; Utah System of Higher Education; University of Utah; Dartmouth College
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-13958
• DOI: 10.1126/science.ado2359
• 发表日期: 2025-07-31
• 页码: 488-493
• 关键词: carbon-isotope fractionation; stable-isotope; fossil cercopithecidae; dietary change; turkana basin; natural-selection; early pleistocene; hadar formation; fallback foods; afar region

摘要

Dietary shifts and corresponding morphological changes can sometimes evolve in succession, not concurrently-an evolutionary process called behavioral drive. Detecting behavioral drive in the fossil record is challenging because it is difficult to measure behaviors independently from corresponding morphologies. To solve this problem, we focused on a puzzling behavior in the fossil record of some primates: eating graminoid plants. We report carbon and oxygen isotope ratios from fossil cercopithecid monkeys and integrate the data into a view of hominin dietary evolution, finding that changes in graminivorous behavior preceded corresponding changes in dental morphology by similar to 700,000 years. Decoupling diets and morphologies in time was conducive to determining when and to exploring why dietary changes helped to propel human evolution.