National Academies Press: OpenBook

Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution (2010)

Chapter: Appendix C Acronyms and Abbreviations

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Acronyms and Abbreviations." 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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C
Accronyms and Abbreviations

A.D. Anno Domini (medieval latin–“in the year of the Lord”)

ALOS Advanced Land Observing Satellite

ASTER Advance Spacebourne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer

C3 A plant that produces the 3-carbon compound phosphoglyceric acid as the first stage of photosynthesis

C4 A plant that produces the 4-carbon compound oxalocethanoic (oxaloacetic) acid as the first stage of photosynthesis

CO2 carbon dioxide

DNA deoxyribonucleic acid dpi dots per inch

DSDP Deep Sea Drilling Program

GCM Global Climate Model

GEON Geosciences Network

GPS Global Positioning System

HOP Human Origins Program

ICDP International Continental Scientific Drilling Program

IKONOS Commercial earth observation satellite designed by Lockhead

Martin Corporation and launched in 1999

IODP Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

ITCZ Intertropical Convergence Zone

JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

ka thousands of years before present

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Acronyms and Abbreviations." 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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ky thousand years

Landsat The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have collected information about Earth from space.

LDCM LandSat Data Community Mission

LGM Last Glacial Maximum

Ma million of years ago

MBT methylation index of branched tetraethers

MicroCT Microscopic Computed Tomography

MIS Marine Isotope Stage

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

NCEP National Centers for Environmental Prediction

NOW Neogene Mammals of the Old World

ODP Ocean Drilling Program

OIS Oxygen Isotope Stage

PAGES Past Global Changes

ppm parts per million

QUICKBIRD a high-resolution commercial Earth observation satellite, owned by DigitalGlobe and launched in 2001

RHOI Revealing Hominid Origins Initiative

SST sea surface temperature

SRTM Shuttle Radar Topogrpahy Mission

TEX86 tetraether index of 86 carbon atoms; paleothermometer based on the composition of membrane lipids of marine picoplankton

UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

YD Younger Dryas

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Research Council. 2010. Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12825.
×
Page 114
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Research Council. 2010. Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12825.
×
Page 115
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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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