National Academies Press: OpenBook

Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution (2010)

Chapter: Appendix B Presentations to the Committee

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B Presentations to the Committee." National Research Council. 2010. Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12825.
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B
Presentations to the Committee

Meeting 1 – September 27-29, 2007


NSF-SBE Perspective

Mark Weiss, Rich Kay, and Don Grayson, (Archeology/Anthropology) NSF-BCS

NSF-GEO Perspective

Rich Lane, Enriqueta Barrera, and Ray Bernor, (Earth Sciences) NSF-GEO

Personal Perspective on Committee’s Task

Mikael Fortelius, Department of Geology, University of Helsinki

What They Hear vs What You Say—and Why it Matters

Eugenie Scott, National Center for Science Education, Oakland, CA

Thoughts on Human Evolution and Climatic Change

Steven Stanley, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii.

Thoughts on the Environmental Context of Human Evolution

Bill Ruddiman, University of Virginia.

(How) Do Genes Matter?

Ken Weiss, Pennsylvania State University

Meeting 2 – Workshop February 21-22, 2008


Tempo and Trends and Possible Causes of African Climate Change During the Pliocene-Pleistocene

Peter deMenocal, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B Presentations to the Committee." National Research Council. 2010. Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12825.
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The Tempo of Evolution

Rick Potts, Smithsonian Institution

Climate, Tectonics, and Hominin Evolution

Peter Molnar, University of Colorado

Early hominid skeletal biology, environmental context, and behavior–a view from Afar

Tim White, University of California at Berkeley

Tectonostratigraphic Context of Turkana Basin

Francis Brown, University of Utah

The Cape Floral Kingdom, Shellfish, and Modern Human Origins: Transdisciplinary Problems Require Transdisciplinary Projects

Curtis Marean, Arizona State University

WORKSHOP BREAKOUT QUESTIONS

Question 1: What was the history and variability of hominin paleoenvironments over the last 8 Ma?

Question 2: How do we improve geochronological control and temporal resolution?

Question 3: Can terrestrial, lacustrine, and marine paleoenvironmental record be reconciled in terms of known forcing mechanisms?

Question 4: How can biotic evolution and adaptation be quantified?

Question 5: How does the terrestrial biotic record relate to the paleoenvironmental changes indicated by terrestrial, lacustrine, and marine records?

Question 6: How do we improve our understanding of hominin interactions with their environment?

Question 7: What new archives, proxies, and methods are needed?

Question 8: How do we test the null hypothesis that human evolution was unaffected by environmental change?

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B Presentations to the Committee." National Research Council. 2010. Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12825.
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Page 112
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B Presentations to the Committee." National Research Council. 2010. Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12825.
×
Page 113
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The hominin fossil record documents a history of critical evolutionary events that have ultimately shaped and defined what it means to be human, including the origins of bipedalism; the emergence of our genus Homo; the first use of stone tools; increases in brain size; and the emergence of Homo sapiens, tools, and culture. The Earth's geological record suggests that some evolutionary events were coincident with substantial changes in African and Eurasian climate, raising the possibility that critical junctures in human evolution and behavioral development may have been affected by the environmental characteristics of the areas where hominins evolved. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution explores the opportunities of using scientific research to improve our understanding of how climate may have helped shape our species.

Improved climate records for specific regions will be required before it is possible to evaluate how critical resources for hominins, especially water and vegetation, would have been distributed on the landscape during key intervals of hominin history. Existing records contain substantial temporal gaps. The book's initiatives are presented in two major research themes: first, determining the impacts of climate change and climate variability on human evolution and dispersal; and second, integrating climate modeling, environmental records, and biotic responses.

Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution suggests a new scientific program for international climate and human evolution studies that involve an exploration initiative to locate new fossil sites and to broaden the geographic and temporal sampling of the fossil and archeological record; a comprehensive and integrative scientific drilling program in lakes, lake bed outcrops, and ocean basins surrounding the regions where hominins evolved and a major investment in climate modeling experiments for key time intervals and regions that are critical to understanding human evolution.

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