The ‘mosaic habitat’ concept in human evolution: past and present

Reynolds, Sally C.; Wilkinson, David M.; Marston, Christopher G.; O’Regan, Hannah J.

doi:10.1080/0035919x.2015.1007490

Cited by 25 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 90 publications

(53 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Permanent rivers, in addition, may represent hundreds of km-long wooded corridors that could potentially connect different valleys through the highlands, making inter-regional dispersal possible for faunas favoring wooded habitats (and relatively tolerant to lower temperatures). Landscape heterogeneity (due to topography, volcanism, tectonism) in addition to the micro-habitat diversity created by the hydrographic network in the rift valleys break off the apparent homogeneity of the savanna biome at the regional scale (Bailey et al, 2011;Reynolds et al, 2015Reynolds et al, , 2011. Patterns of faunal diversity and their relationship with the heterogeneity of landscapes and habitats in various valleys during the Pliocene would be worth investigating.…”

Section: Perennial Water At the Continental Scale: Springs Versus Permentioning

confidence: 99%

Springs, palm groves, and the record of early hominins in Africa

Barboni

Ashley

Bourel

et al. 2019

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Highlights• Groundwater systems locally create wet and wooded microhabitats in arid Eastern Africa.• But, how important are groundwater-fed microhabitats to the early hominin record?• Geological context, vegetation, and microfossils from modern springs were analyzed.• Fossil springs were found associated with hominin remains in >50 different localities.• Groundwater systems play essential roles at the species and ecosystem levels. AbstractHominins evolved in Africa during a period of overall regional cooling, drying and increasingly variable climate. Despite prevailing regional aridity since the mid-Miocene, data show that early hominins Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Orrorin tugenensis, and Ardipithecus ramidus lived in environments made of mosaics of grasslands, mixed grasslands, woodlands, and forests, where wooded habitats were maintained by edaphic rather than regional (climatic) humidity. Groundwater systems (springs, seeps, shallow aquifers) and surface water (rivers, lakes), locally create wetter and more wooded environments in addition to that supported by precipitation alone. However, edaphically sustained woodlands are rare to missing in most published paleoeclogical interpretations of hominin archeological sites. To explore the importance of groundwater to the record of hominins in Africa, we provide newly acquired field data from spring sites in the Awash Valley, Ethiopia, and Lake Eyasi-Lake Manyara region, Tanzania, and re-evaluate published data from the Ardipithecus-bearing Aramis Member, Ethiopia.Results show that 1) in arid Eastern Africa, a wide variety of microhabitats such as groundwaterfed wetlands, Hyphaene palm woodlands, Phoenix reclinata palm woodlands, and structurally complex and species-rich forest patches exist due to local variability of geologic, topographic and hydrologic conditions. 2) These microhabitats carry some characteristic pollen and phytolith signals, that may be easily masked by the signal of surrounding grass-dominated shrublands and grasslands. 3) The Aramis Member (Awash Valley, Ethiopia), which is to date, the best documented paleo-groundwater ecosystem, is not a riparian habitat. It is one of > 50 examples (within 22 geographically distinct areas) in Africa and the Middle East where evidence of groundwater systems co-exist with hominin and/or archeological remains. Springs are commonly localized features of limited area within a landscape, but provide ecological continuity through time and diverse microhabitats, some of which may be densely forested.At the local scale, springs create microclimates, distinctive vegetation, and increase soil nutrients, species richness, structural complexity, and provide habitat for animals. At the landscape scale, they represent hydro-refugia favoring increased connectivity among animals and allowing migrations during dry periods. We conclude that in the East African Rift where low, highly seasonal rainfall and high evaporative demand limit vegetation growth in many areas, groundwater-fed zones create diverse microhabitats and play a m...

show abstract

Section: Perennial Water At the Continental Scale: Springs Versus Permentioning

confidence: 99%

Springs, palm groves, and the record of early hominins in Africa

Barboni

Ashley

Bourel

et al. 2019

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Kingston () commented more than a decade ago, “current consensus [is] that much of human evolution occurred in the context of dynamic, complex, spatially, and temporally heterogeneous mosaics of forest to grassland habitats set within an overall trend of increasing instability and aridification.” Mosaic environments remain an emphasis in human evolutionary explanations (e.g., Bender, Tobias, & Bender, ; Curran & Haile‐Selassie, ; Dominguez‐Rodrigo, ; Reynolds, Wilkinson, Marston, & O'Regan, ; Wynn et al, ) and may be the key to reconciling the seemingly conflicting diet proxies of A. anamensis and its indistinguishable δ 13 C diet values from those of “savanna” chimps. Habitats of A. anamensis in the Omo‐Turkana Basin included a wide range of C 3 and C 4 dietary resources available to ungulates and primates (Figure ).…”

Section: An Integrative Diet Reconstruction Of a Anamensismentioning

confidence: 99%

Isotopic equifinality and rethinking the diet of Australopithecus anamensis

Quinn

2019

American J Phys Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: Australopithecus anamensis has comparable δ 13 C enamel values to Ardipithecus ramidus, and both have been characterized as C 3 feeders in open woodland habitats similar to "savanna" chimps. Unlike Ar. ramidus and "savanna" chimps, A. anamensis shows a derived dentognathic morphology for tough foods and a dental microwear pattern similar to the C 3 -C 4 -mixed-feeding A. afarensis. Here I test the hypothesis that changing the variables (ε * enamel-diet , δ 13 C C3, δ 13 C C4 values) used to calculate the percentage of dietary C 4 foods (%C 4 diet) by 1-2‰ does not make a substantial difference for hominin diet reconstructions [van der Merwe, Masao, & Bamford, 2008, South African Journal of Science 104:153-155]. Materials and Methods: I estimate vegetation structures for A. anamensis with pedogenic carbonate and faunal enamel δ 13 C values from the Pliocene Omo-Turkana Basin(4.2-3.9 Ma). I recalculate A. anamensis' %C 4 diet based on new body size-dependent estimates of the ε * enamel-diet value and alternative δ 13 C C3 and δ 13 C C4 values. Results: The Pliocene Omo-Turkana Basin shows evidence for dietary resources with a wide range of δ 13 C values including canopy-driven 13 C depleted ground C 3 foods. Alternative equation variables changed by 1-2‰ yield higher C 4 estimates forA. anamensis (15-31%) than previously thought (0-10%). The choice of δ 13 C C3 and δ 13 C C4 values for estimating %C 4 is not a perfunctory task and potentially explains the δ 13 C isotopic equifinality of A. anamensis and "savanna" chimps.Discussion: My integrative diet model reconciles the carbon isotopic data with the dentognathic and microwear evidence of A. anamensis' diet and suggests that "savanna" chimps are not proper dietary analogs of A. anamensis. A foraging strategy across heterogeneous habitats of the Pliocene Omo-Turkana Basin incorporating an array of 13 Cdepleted and 13 C-enriched C 3 foods and a portion of C 4 resources may have served as one of the selective pressures for A. anamensis, the earliest habitual biped [van der Merwe et al.

show abstract

“…It refers to the heterogeneity of the habitat (Reynolds et al. ). But it is obvious that a mosaic can be formed by quite different entities and mosaic environments in the Plio‐Pleistocene of Kenya and of South Africa were very probably different.…”

Section: Problems With Palaeoenvironmental Reconstructionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…He was referring to what was called later a 'mosaic' environment, a concept also widely used, but which is vague and poorly defined. It refers to the heterogeneity of the habitat (Reynolds et al 2015). But it is obvious that a mosaic can be formed by quite different entities and mosaic environments in the Plio-Pleistocene of Kenya and of South Africa were very probably different.…”

Section: Problems With Palaeoenvironmental Reconstructionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphology and environment in some fossil Hominoids and Pedetids (Mammalia)

Sénut

2015

Journal of Anatomy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Linking the environment to functional anatomy is not an easy exercise, especially when dealing with fossils, which are often fragmentary and represent animals that are extinct. A holistic approach permits us to fill the gaps in reconstructing the evolutionary patterns in fossil groups. Identifying the environment where animals lived can help to interpret some anatomical structures and, vice versa, the functional morphological pattern can help to refine some fossil environments. Two examples focusing on locomotor behaviours in fossil mammals are considered in this paper: the hominoids and the origins of hominid bipedalism and the springing adaptations in fossil rodents (Pedetidae) in connection with different habitats. In the first case, the limits of the chimpbased models and the necessity to take into account detailed environmental reconstructions will be addressed. The famous 'savannah hypothesis' is no longer tenable because the palaeontological data support a more vegetated environment for the origins of bipedal hominids. Data from the environment will be considered. The earliest putative hominid fossils which preserve skeletal remains of the locomotor apparatus show mixed adaptations to terrestrial bipedalism and arboreal activities. The second example focuses on the variation in springing adaptations in Pedetidae in the Lower Miocene of East Africa and Southern Africa. In the East, the sites where Pedetidae were preserved were mainly forested, whereas in the South the region was more open and drier, with extensive grassy patches. In the first case, pedetids were robust and heavy jumpers, whereas in the South they were smaller, their skeleton more gracile and their springing was lighter. During the desertification of the southern part of Africa, the large pedetid species became extinct, but a smaller species developed. In the case of primates, as in the case of rodents, the skeletal morphology was adapted to its environment.

show abstract

The ‘mosaic habitat’ concept in human evolution: past and present

Cited by 25 publications

References 90 publications

Springs, palm groves, and the record of early hominins in Africa

Springs, palm groves, and the record of early hominins in Africa

Isotopic equifinality and rethinking the diet of Australopithecus anamensis

Morphology and environment in some fossil Hominoids and Pedetids (Mammalia)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About