Major transitions in human evolution
05 Jul 2016-Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (The Royal Society)-Vol. 371, Iss: 1698, pp 20150229
TL;DR: How the contributions to the themed issue ‘Major transitions in human evolution’ throw light on the pattern of change in hominin evolution are discussed.
Abstract: Evolutionary problems are often considered in terms of ‘origins', and research in human evolution seen as a search for human origins. However, evolution, including human evolution, is a process of ...
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: A novel and thorough view of political leadership as investigated by evolutionary anthropologists is provided and the benefits of incorporating findings from the evolutionary social sciences into leadership studies generally are highlighted.
Abstract: Existing approaches within leadership studies often share a bias towards industrialized societies and lack broader cross-cultural and ethological reference. Meanwhile, cross-cultural and evolutionary approaches within anthropology are actively working to unify research on leadership and followership across the biological and social sciences. This review provides a novel and thorough view of political leadership as investigated by evolutionary anthropologists and highlights the benefits of incorporating findings from the evolutionary social sciences into leadership studies generally. We introduce the anthropological approach to leadership; describe evolutionary anthropology, its subdisciplines (including primatology, paleoanthropology, paleogenetics, human behavioral ecology, and gene-culture coevolution), and its complementary disciplines (particularly evolutionary psychology); review leadership and hierarchy in nonhumans, including our extinct hominid ancestors; review female leadership and sex-differences; and, primarily, discuss the relationships between evolution, ecology, and culture as they relate to the observed patterns of political leadership and followership across human societies. Through evolutionary anthropology's diverse toolkit, a deeper insight into the evolution and cross-cultural patterning of leadership is realized.
81 citations
Cites background from "Major transitions in human evolutio..."
...…of modern H. sapiens, suggesting that this might be a unique feature of our species (there is little consensus on whether our sister species, H. neanderthalensis, was capable of complex symbolic culture, although there is increasing evidence that they were) (d’Errico et al., 2016; Foley, 2016)....
[...]
TL;DR: The results reveal marine mollusc shells as novel genetic archives of the past, which opens new perspectives in ancient DNA research, with the potential to reconstruct the evolutionary history of molluscs, microbial communities and pathogens in the face of environmental changes.
Abstract: Marine mollusc shells enclose a wealth of information on coastal organisms and their environment. Their life history traits as well as (palaeo-) environmental conditions, including temperature, food availability, salinity and pollution, can be traced through the analysis of their shell (micro-) structure and biogeochemical composition. Adding to this list, the DNA entrapped in shell carbonate biominerals potentially offers a novel and complementary proxy both for reconstructing palaeoenvironments and tracking mollusc evolutionary trajectories. Here, we assess this potential by applying DNA extraction, high-throughput shotgun DNA sequencing and metagenomic analyses to marine mollusc shells spanning the last ~7,000 years. We report successful DNA extraction from shells, including a variety of ancient specimens, and find that DNA recovery is highly dependent on their biomineral structure, carbonate layer preservation and disease state. We demonstrate positive taxonomic identification of mollusc species using a combination of mitochondrial DNA genomes, barcodes, genome-scale data and metagenomic approaches. We also find shell biominerals to contain a diversity of microbial DNA from the marine environment. Finally, we reconstruct genomic sequences of organisms closely related to the Vibrio tapetis bacteria from Manila clam shells previously diagnosed with Brown Ring Disease. Our results reveal marine mollusc shells as novel genetic archives of the past, which opens new perspectives in ancient DNA research, with the potential to reconstruct the evolutionary history of molluscs, microbial communities and pathogens in the face of environmental changes. Other future applications include conservation of endangered mollusc species and aquaculture management.
55 citations
Cites background from "Major transitions in human evolutio..."
...2014, 2016), reveal a wealth of information about past organisms, populations and environments (see (Pedersen et al. 2015; Ermini et al. 2015; Slatkin & Racimo 2016; Leonardi et al. 2016; MacHugh et al. 2016) for reviews)....
[...]
TL;DR: Diversity within East Africa underscores the need for regional, rather than continental‐scale narratives of the later evolutionary history of H. sapiens, and underscores theneed for analytical approaches that document potential ancestor‐descendent relationships visible in the archeological record to assess independent invention, population interaction, dispersal, and other potential mechanisms for behavioral change.
Abstract: The Middle to Later Stone Age (MSA/LSA) transition is a prominent feature of the African archeological record that began in some places ~30,000-60,000 years ago, historically associated with the origin and/or dispersal of "modern" humans. Unlike the analogous Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Eurasia and associated Neanderthal extinction, the African MSA/LSA record remains poorly documented, with its potential role in explaining changes in the behavioral diversity and geographic range of Homo sapiens largely unexplored. I review archeological and biogeographic data from East Africa, show regionally diverse pathways to the MSA/LSA transition, and emphasize the need for analytical approaches that document potential ancestor-descendent relationships visible in the archeological record, needed to assess independent invention, population interaction, dispersal, and other potential mechanisms for behavioral change. Diversity within East Africa underscores the need for regional, rather than continental-scale narratives of the later evolutionary history of H. sapiens.
41 citations
02 Oct 2020
18 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that the allergic phenotype has likely saved the lives of many more mammals than have ever died from allergy, so justifying the positive role of IgE in the authors' evolution.
Abstract: The allergic phenotype manifests itself in a spectrum of troublesome to life-threatening diseases, from seasonal hay fever, through the food allergies, atopic eczema, asthma, to anaphylaxis. Allergy, that is an overreaction to allergen in hypersensitive individuals, results from the production of IgE, mast cell and basophil sensitisation and degranulation, requiring a range of medications to manage the conditions. Yet it is highly likely that allergy evolved for a purpose and that allergic diseases are accidental consequences of an insufficiently regulated immune response. This article presents a viewpoint from which to restore the immunological reputation of the allergic phenotype. We consider the evolutionary origins of potential allergens, toxins and parasites, and how they might have influenced early-mammal species in existence when IgE first developed. We conclude that the allergic phenotype has likely saved the lives of many more mammals than have ever died from allergy, so justifying the positive role of IgE in our evolution.
18 citations
References
More filters
Book•
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: This book discusses the origins of societies, development and evolution, and the development of spatial patterns in simple organisms.
Abstract: List of Tables Preface 1. Introduction 2. What is Life? 3. Chemical evolution 4. The evolution of templates 5. The chicken and egg problem 6. The origin of translation and the genetic code 7. The origin of protocells 8. The origin of eukaryotes 9. The origin of sex and the nature of species 10. Intragenomic conflict 11. Symbiosis 12. Development in simple organisms 13. Gene regulation and cell heredity 14. The development of spatial patterns 15. Development and evolution 16. The origins of societies 17. The origins of language References Index
3,866 citations
[...]
TL;DR: A revised definition is presented, based on verifiable criteria, for Homo and it is concluded that two species, Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, do not belong in the genus.
Abstract: A general problem in biology is how to incorporate information about evolutionary history and adaptation into taxonomy. The problem is exemplified in attempts to define our own genus, Homo. Here conventional criteria for allocating fossil species to Homo are reviewed and are found to be either inappropriate or inoperable. We present a revised definition, based on verifiable criteria, for Homo and conclude that two species, Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, do not belong in the genus. The earliest taxon to satisfy the criteria is Homo ergaster, or early African Homo erectus, which currently appears in the fossil record at about 1.9 million years ago.
666 citations
Additional excerpts
...erectus represents the major transition [8]....
[...]
TL;DR: The “modern synthetic” view of evolution has broken down, at least as an exclusive proposition, on both of its fundamental claims: “extrapolationism” and “ nearly exclusive reliance on selection leading to adaptation.
Abstract: The “modern synthetic” view of evolution has broken down, at least as an exclusive proposition, on both of its fundamental claims: (1) “extrapolationism” (gradual substitution of different alleles in many genes as the exclusive process underlying all evolutionary change) and (2) nearly exclusive reliance on selection leading to adaptation. Evolution is a hierarchical process with complementary, but different modes of change at its three large-scale levels: (a) variation within populations, (b) speciation, and (c) very long-term macroevolutionary trends. Speciation is not always an extension of gradual, adaptive allelic substitution, but may represent, as Goldschmidt argued, a different style of genetic change—rapid reorganization of the genome, perhaps nonadaptive. Macroevolutionary trends do not arise from the gradual, adaptive transformation of populations, but usually from a higher-order selection operating upon groups of species. Individual species generally do not change much after their “instantaneous” (in geological time) origin. These two discontinuities in the evolutionary hierarchy can be called the Goldschmidt break (change in populations is different from speciation) and the Wright break (speciation is different from macroevolutionary trending that translates differential success among different species).
634 citations
TL;DR: The new material found in 1963 makes it possible to draw conclusions and to give a diagnosis for a new species of the genus Homo, as shown in this article.
Abstract: on the west side of Lake Natron, some fifty miles north-east of Olduvai Gorge. Initial exploration of this area was carried out under the leadership of my son, Richard Leakey, who was later joined by Mr. Glynn Isaac, who took charge of the scientific side of the work. Mrs. Isaac, Mr. Richard Rowe and Philip Leakey also took part, as well as a number of our African staff. On January 11 one of our African staff, Mr. Kamoya Kimeu, located a magnificient fossil hominid jaw in situ (see Figs. 6 and 7). This jaw, unlike specimens (A), (B), (C) and (D) here, represents an unmistakable australopithecine and provides, for the first time, a mandible representing this sub-family from East Africa. It will be recalled that in earlier notes in Nature and elsewhere, we have stressed the fact that the juvenile and the other fossil remains from site F.L.K.N.N. I, found in 1960, did not represent an australopithecine such as Australopithecus (Zinianthropus) boisei, but were wholly distinct and different. It was stated that these must be thought of as representing a contemporary and primitive hominine branch of the Hominidae. We refrained from giving a scientific name to the material from site F.L.K.N.N. I-the juvenile and the female-together with other specimens representing the same type (the molar tooth from site M.K. I) until there were better data on which to decide just where to place this type of hominid in the taxonomic sequence. The new material found in 1963 makes it possible to draw conclusions and to give a diagnosis for a new species of the genus Homo. This diagnosis and a preliminary description by Leakey, Tobias and Napier follow this article.
630 citations
"Major transitions in human evolutio..." refers background in this paper
...[6] described Homo habilis, they argued for abandoning the cerebral Rubicon so that the genus Homo could include a smaller brained stone tool maker....
[...]
01 Jan 1982
503 citations