The diet of Australopithecus sediba

Specimens of Australopithecus sediba from the site of Malapa, South Africa (dating from approximately 2 million years (Myr) ago) present a mix of primitive and derived traits that align the taxon with other Australopithecus species and with early Homo. Although much of the available cranial and postcranial material of Au. sediba has been described, its feeding ecology has not been investigated. Here we present results from the first extraction of plant phytoliths from dental calculus of an early hominin. We also consider stable carbon isotope and dental microwear texture data for Au. sediba in light of new palaeoenvironmental evidence. The two individuals examined consumed an almost exclusive C(3) diet that probably included harder foods, and both dicotyledons (for example, tree leaves, fruits, wood and bark) and monocotyledons (for example, grasses and sedges). Like Ardipithecus ramidus (approximately 4.4 Myr ago) and modern savanna chimpanzees, Au. sediba consumed C(3) foods in preference to widely available C(4) resources. The inferred consumption of C(3) monocotyledons, and wood or bark, increases the known variety of early hominin foods. The overall dietary pattern of these two individuals contrasts with available data for other hominins in the region and elsewhere.     

Woody cover and hominin environments in the past 6 million years

The role of African savannahs in the evolution of early hominins has been debated for nearly a century. Resolution of this issue has been hindered by difficulty in quantifying the fraction of woody cover in the fossil record. Here we show that the fraction of woody cover in tropical ecosystems can be quantified using stable carbon isotopes in soils. Furthermore, we use fossil soils from hominin sites in the Awash and Omo-Turkana basins in eastern Africa to reconstruct the fraction of woody cover since the Late Miocene epoch (about 7 million years ago). (13)C/(12)C ratio data from 1,300 palaeosols at or adjacent to hominin sites dating to at least 6 million years ago show that woody cover was predominantly less than ～40% at most sites. These data point to the prevalence of open environments at the majority of hominin fossil sites in eastern Africa over the past 6 million years.     

Postcranial evidence from early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia

The Plio-Pleistocene site of Dmanisi, Georgia, has yielded a rich fossil and archaeological record documenting an early presence of the genus Homo outside Africa. Although the craniomandibular morphology of early Homo is well known as a result of finds from Dmanisi and African localities, data about its postcranial morphology are still relatively scarce. Here we describe newly excavated postcranial material from Dmanisi comprising a partial skeleton of an adolescent individual, associated with skull D2700/D2735, and the remains from three adult individuals. This material shows that the postcranial anatomy of the Dmanisi hominins has a surprising mosaic of primitive and derived features. The primitive features include a small body size, a low encephalization quotient and absence of humeral torsion; the derived features include modern-human-like body proportions and lower limb morphology indicative of the capability for long-distance travel. Thus, the earliest known hominins to have lived outside of Africa in the temperate zones of Eurasia did not yet display the full set of derived skeletal features.     

An Asian perspective on early human dispersal from Africa

The past decade has seen the Pliocene and Pleistocene fossil hominin record enriched by the addition of at least ten new taxa, including the Early Pleistocene, small-brained hominins from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the diminutive Late Pleistocene Homo floresiensis from Flores, Indonesia. At the same time, Asia's earliest hominin presence has been extended up to 1.8 Myr ago, hundreds of thousands of years earlier than previously envisaged. Nevertheless, the preferred explanation for the first appearance of hominins outside Africa has remained virtually unchanged. We show here that it is time to develop alternatives to one of palaeoanthropology's most basic paradigms: 'Out of Africa 1'.     

The first hominin of Europe

The earliest hominin occupation of Europe is one of the most debated topics in palaeoanthropology. However, the purportedly oldest of the Early Pleistocene sites in Eurasia lack precise age control and contain stone tools rather than human fossil remains. Here we report the discovery of a human mandible associated with an assemblage of Mode 1 lithic tools and faunal remains bearing traces of hominin processing, in stratigraphic level TE9 at the site of the Sima del Elefante, Atapuerca, Spain. Level TE9 has been dated to the Early Pleistocene (approximately 1.2-1.1 Myr), based on a combination of palaeomagnetism, cosmogenic nuclides and biostratigraphy. The Sima del Elefante site thus emerges as the oldest, most accurately dated record of human occupation in Europe, to our knowledge. The study of the human mandible suggests that the first settlement of Western Europe could be related to an early demographic expansion out of Africa. The new evidence, with previous findings in other Atapuerca sites (level TD6 from Gran Dolina), also suggests that a speciation event occurred in this extreme area of the Eurasian continent during the Early Pleistocene, initiating the hominin lineage represented by the TE9 and TD6 hominins.     

First fossil chimpanzee

There are thousands of fossils of hominins, but no fossil chimpanzee has yet been reported. The chimpanzee (Pan) is the closest living relative to humans. Chimpanzee populations today are confined to wooded West and central Africa, whereas most hominin fossil sites occur in the semi-arid East African Rift Valley. This situation has fuelled speculation regarding causes for the divergence of the human and chimpanzee lineages five to eight million years ago. Some investigators have invoked a shift from wooded to savannah vegetation in East Africa, driven by climate change, to explain the apparent separation between chimpanzee and human ancestral populations and the origin of the unique hominin locomotor adaptation, bipedalism. The Rift Valley itself functions as an obstacle to chimpanzee occupation in some scenarios. Here we report the first fossil chimpanzee. These fossils, from the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya, show that representatives of Pan were present in the East African Rift Valley during the Middle Pleistocene, where they were contemporary with an extinct species of Homo. Habitats suitable for both hominins and chimpanzees were clearly present there during this period, and the Rift Valley did not present an impenetrable barrier to chimpanzee occupation.     

川东北下三叠统飞仙关组白云岩成因——来自岩石结构的证据

以岩石结构分析为基础,结合自云石有序度和Sr含量及Sr同位素等资料,对川东北下三叠统飞仙关组广泛发育的白云岩成因进行研究,从中识别出准同生白云岩和埋藏白云岩两种成因类型.其中具有储集意义的仅为多期次埋藏交代成因的成岩白云岩,包括鲕粒白云岩和晶粒白云岩两种主要结构类型.综合成岩埋藏白云岩的结构与有序度和Sr含量及Sr同位素地球化学特征,可将埋藏白云化过程划分为早、中、晚三个成岩阶段.各阶段储层白云岩的岩石结构虽然有显著的差别,但微量元素Sr含量和Sr同位素地球化学特征具有明显的相似性与周源性,不仅显示了埋藏白云化流体为具备早三叠世海水Sr同位素组成特征的海源地层水而与大气淡水无关,同时反映了多期次的埋藏白云化作用是发生在继承性发展演化的过程中的和相对封闭的体系中,因此,对储层的发育和天然气的聚集成藏都非常有利.     

A juvenile early hominin skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia

Understanding changes in ontogenetic development is central to the study of human evolution. With the exception of Neanderthals, the growth patterns of fossil hominins have not been studied comprehensively because the fossil record currently lacks specimens that document both cranial and postcranial development at young ontogenetic stages. Here we describe a well-preserved 3.3-million-year-old juvenile partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis discovered in the Dikika research area of Ethiopia. The skull of the approximately three-year-old presumed female shows that most features diagnostic of the species are evident even at this early stage of development. The find includes many previously unknown skeletal elements from the Pliocene hominin record, including a hyoid bone that has a typical African ape morphology. The foot and other evidence from the lower limb provide clear evidence for bipedal locomotion, but the gorilla-like scapula and long and curved manual phalanges raise new questions about the importance of arboreal behaviour in the A. afarensis locomotor repertoire.     

Implications of new early Homo fossils from Ileret, east of Lake Turkana, Kenya

Sites in eastern Africa have shed light on the emergence and early evolution of the genus Homo. The best known early hominin species, H. habilis and H. erectus, have often been interpreted as time-successive segments of a single anagenetic evolutionary lineage. The case for this was strengthened by the discovery of small early Pleistocene hominin crania from Dmanisi in Georgia that apparently provide evidence of morphological continuity between the two taxa. Here we describe two new cranial fossils from the Koobi Fora Formation, east of Lake Turkana in Kenya, that have bearing on the relationship between species of early Homo. A partial maxilla assigned to H. habilis reliably demonstrates that this species survived until later than previously recognized, making an anagenetic relationship with H. erectus unlikely. The discovery of a particularly small calvaria of H. erectus indicates that this taxon overlapped in size with H. habilis, and may have shown marked sexual dimorphism. The new fossils confirm the distinctiveness of H. habilis and H. erectus, independently of overall cranial size, and suggest that these two early taxa were living broadly sympatrically in the same lake basin for almost half a million years.     

湿地公园鸟类栖息地禾本科群落盖度对雀形目鸟类集团的影响

【目的】研究太湖流域国家湿地公园鸟类栖息地禾本科植物群落盖度对雀形目鸟类集团的影响,为太湖流域鸟类栖息地管理提供科学依据。【方法】2019年6月至2020年8月,在江苏天福国家湿地公园鸟类栖息地,使用样方法和样线法分别获取禾本科植物群落特征数据及雀形目鸟类相关数据,构建回归模型,分析禾本科群落盖度和雀形目鸟类个体数占比的关系,并通过主成分分析和聚类分析进行雀形目鸟类集团划分。【结果】①研究区域内共记录到禾本科植物20属22种,雀形目鸟类66种1 637只;②栖息地禾本科群落盖度与雀形目鸟类个体数占比显著正相关(r=0.981,P=0.003),禾本科物种组成及群落高度与雀形目鸟类个体数占比并无显著相关性;③研究区雀形目鸟类可划分为3个集团,即小型鸟集团(低体质量、低翼长、低嘴锋长)、中型鸟集团(中体质量、中翼长、中嘴锋长)和大型鸟集团(高体质量、高翼长、高嘴锋长);④禾本科群落盖度显著影响小型鸟集团(r=0.847,P=0.035),中型鸟集团对禾本科群落盖度季度变化无明显响应(r=0.513,P=0.188),大型鸟集团数据量较少未显示相关性。【结论】在天福国家湿地公园鸟类栖息地中,禾本科群落盖度对雀形目小型鸟集团个体数占比有显著影响,对中型鸟集团及大型鸟集团没有显著影响,基于此,或可通过控制禾本科群落盖度以调控栖息地中不同性状的雀形目鸟类集团。     

Anthropology: the earliest toothless hominin skull

The site of Dmanisi in the Eurasian republic of Georgia has yielded striking hominin, faunal and archaeological material as evidence for the presence of early Homo outside Africa 1.77 million years ago, documenting an important episode in human evolution. Here we describe a beautifully preserved skull and jawbone from a Dmanisi hominin of this period who had lost all but one tooth several years before death. This specimen not only represents the earliest case of severe masticatory impairment in the hominin fossil record to be discovered so far, but also raises questions about alternative subsistence strategies in early Homo.     

New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages

Most interpretations of early hominin phylogeny recognize a single early to middle Pliocene ancestral lineage, best represented by Australopithecus afarensis, which gave rise to a radiation of taxa in the late Pliocene. Here we report on new fossils discovered west of Lake Turkana, Kenya, which differ markedly from those of contemporary A. afarensis, indicating that hominin taxonomic diversity extended back, well into the middle Pliocene. A 3.5 Myr-old cranium, showing a unique combination of derived facial and primitive neurocranial features, is assigned to a new genus of hominin. These findings point to an early diet-driven adaptive radiation, provide new insight on the association of hominin craniodental features, and have implications for our understanding of Plio-Pleistocene hominin phylogeny.     

Enamel carbon isotope evidence of diet and habitat of Gigantopithecus blacki and associated mammalian megafauna in the Early Pleistocene of South China

Enamel stable carbon isotope analyses were conducted on the large fossil ape Gigantopithecus blacki and an associated mammalian megafauna from Longgudong Cave in Jianshi and Juyuandong Cave in Liucheng, South China. The range in δ13C values (-18.8‰ to -14.1‰) indicates that G. blacki and other large mammals fed on solely C3 biomass, and lived in forest habitats, and not open country or savannas. These results are consistent with other faunal and floral analyses for that time. The diet and habitat of G. blacki were significantly different from those of early hominins (Australopithecus and Paranthropus) from South and East Africa. Extinction of G. blacki probably was a result of forest habitat fragmentation and deterioration.     

Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins.

A modern human-like sequence of dental development, as a proxy for the pace of life history, is regarded as one of the diagnostic hallmarks of our own genus Homo. Brain size, age at first reproduction, lifespan and other life-history traits correlate tightly with dental development. Here we report differences in enamel growth that show the earliest fossils attributed to Homo do not resemble modern humans in their development. We used daily incremental markings in enamel to calculate rates of enamel formation in 13 fossil hominins and identified differences in this key determinant of tooth formation time. Neither australopiths nor fossils currently attributed to early Homo shared the slow trajectory of enamel growth typical of modern humans; rather, both resembled modern and fossil African apes. We then reconstructed tooth formation times in australopiths, in the approximately 1.5-Myr-old Homo erectus skeleton from Nariokotome, Kenya, and in another Homo erectus specimen, Sangiran S7-37 from Java. These times were shorter than those in modern humans. It therefore seems likely that truly modern dental development emerged relatively late in human evolution.     

Mixing, volatile loss and compositional change during impact-driven accretion of the Earth

The degree to which efficient mixing of new material or losses of earlier accreted material to space characterize the growth of Earth-like planets is poorly constrained and probably changed with time. These processes can be studied by parallel modelling of data from different radiogenic isotope systems. The tungsten isotope composition of the silicate Earth yields a model timescale for accretion that is faster than current estimates based on terrestrial lead and xenon isotope data and strontium, tungsten and lead data for lunar samples. A probable explanation for this is that impacting core material did not always mix efficiently with the silicate portions of the Earth before being added to the Earth's core. Furthermore, tungsten and strontium isotope compositions of lunar samples provide evidence that the Moon-forming impacting protoplanet Theia was probably more like Mars, with a volatile-rich, oxidized mantle. Impact-driven erosion was probably a significant contributor to the variations in moderately volatile element abundance and oxidation found among the terrestrial planets.     

酱曲露尾甲Carpophilus hemipterus(鞘翅目:露尾甲科)的飞行速度和飞行持续时间研究(英文)

利用飞行磨技术和电子计算机技术测定酱曲露尾甲Corpophilus hemiplerus的飞行速度和飞行持续时间,结果表明:1.大部分的甲虫只作短距离的飞行(<30分钟),只有少部分的成虫可以作长距离的飞行(>30分钟);2.雌虫飞行持续时间明显长于雄虫;3。雌虫每小平均飞行速度是1586米,雄虫每小时平均飞行速度是1195米,雌虫的飞行速度比雄虫快。     

Periodicity of Retzius lines in fossil <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pongo</Emphasis> from South China

Periodicity of Retzius lines is a key factor in dental development. In this study, we examined the periodicity of Retzius lines in fossil Pongo from South China using polarized light microscope observation of dental ground sections. The periodicities all of the 15 teeth were 9 d. Comparisons of periodicity were made with extant primates, fossil apes and hominins. Periodicity of fossil Pongo from South China was relatively long but fell within the variation of extant Pongo, Gorilla and modern human, and longer than periodicity of Pan and other extant primates. Fossil Pongo from South China was similar to Lufengpithecus and Sivapithecus, shorter than Gigantopithecus and longer than European and African fossil apes and most early hominins in periodicity. Generally, the periodicities of Asian large-body fossil apes were longer than the periodicities of European and African large-body fossil apes in Miocene. Difference among species and trend of evolution in periodicity were analyzed and discussed. We found that periodicity might gradually increase from Proconsul in early Miocene to several fossil apes in Miocene and then Gigantopithecus in Pleistocene. In addition, this study made correlate analysis between periodicity and body mass respectively in males and females of six extant apes and five fossil apes, and found that periodicity positively correlated with body mass.     

A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia

Currently, it is widely accepted that only one hominin genus, Homo, was present in Pleistocene Asia, represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Both species are characterized by greater brain size, increased body height and smaller teeth relative to Pliocene Australopithecus in Africa. Here we report the discovery, from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia, of an adult hominin with stature and endocranial volume approximating 1 m and 380 cm3, respectively--equal to the smallest-known australopithecines. The combination of primitive and derived features assigns this hominin to a new species, Homo floresiensis. The most likely explanation for its existence on Flores is long-term isolation, with subsequent endemic dwarfing, of an ancestral H. erectus population. Importantly, H. floresiensis shows that the genus Homo is morphologically more varied and flexible in its adaptive responses than previously thought.     

土壤基质和芽体大小对水鳖冬芽萌发及早期生长的影响

为了弄清楚影响浮叶植物水鳖的早期生活的潜在因素,设计了一个3×2因子的室外实验来研究基质和冬芽对水鳖早期生活阶段的影响,即实验用的冬芽分成小、中、大3组,让它们分别在2种不同的土壤基质(沙、泥)中生长.实验结果表明,在相同的基质中,随着冬芽的不断增大,水鳖的萌发率、不同器官(根、茎、叶、叶柄)生物量和总生物量等都有相应的提高;相对来说,大的冬芽和沙基质有利于水鳖早期的萌发、构建和生存,而大的冬芽和泥基质则有利于萌发后水鳖的生长;生物量倾向于根部的分配方式,有利于植物度过不利的环境而更有利于它的生存.