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4 - The hierarchy of intraspecific craniometric variation in gorillas: A population-thinking approach with implications for fossil species recognition studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2009

By
Gene H. Albrecht ,
Bruce R. Gelvin  and
Joseph M. A. Miller
Edited by
Andrea B. Taylor  and
Michele L. Goldsmith
Gene H. Albrecht
Affiliation:
Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, U.S.A.
Bruce R. Gelvin
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, California State University, Northridge, CA 91330, U.S.A.
Joseph M. A. Miller
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California–Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, U.S.A.
Andrea B. Taylor
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
Michele L. Goldsmith
Affiliation:
Tufts University, Massachusetts
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Summary

Introduction

Understanding the nature of intraspecific craniometric variation in Gorilla gorilla is of major importance in paleoanthropology since gorillas are often used to model what variation might have looked like in a fossil hominid species. The use of modern species analogs, like gorillas, is a critical factor in fossil species recognition studies that seek to determine whether a sample of fossils represents one or more species. In such studies, a decision must be made as to whether the variation in the fossil sample is representative of intraspecific or interspecific variation. Consequently, accurately characterizing intraspecific variation in modern taxa is the foundation upon which such decisions rest.

The concept of “population thinking” should have a central role in fossil species recognition studies. Mayr (1963:5–6) states: “the replacement of typological thinking by population thinking is perhaps the greatest conceptual revolution that has taken place in biology” (see also, among many others: Mayr, 1942, 1969, 1976, 1999; Mayr et al., 1953; Simpson, 1953, 1961; Mayr & Ashlock, 1991). By population thinking, we mean the theory and practice of population systematics in which biological species are thought of as aggregates of interbreeding natural populations comprising individuals that vary genetically and phenetically. Questions have been raised about the extent to which biological anthropologists have embraced population thinking (e.g., Fuller & Caspari, 2001). While paleoanthropologists may be familiar with the theory, fossil species recognition studies have not fully incorporated population thinking into their practical design or interpretation of results.

Type
Chapter
Information
Gorilla Biology
A Multidisciplinary Perspective
 , pp. 62 - 103
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

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