Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Cretaceous world
- 3 The Cenozoic world
- 4 Calcareous nannoplankton and global climate change
- 5 Phenotypic response of foraminifera to episodes of global environmental change
- 6 The response of planktonic foraminifera to the Late Pliocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation
- 7 The response of Cretaceous cephalopods to global change
- 8 Global change and the fossil fish record: the relevance of systematics
- 9 Response of shallow water foraminiferal palaeocommunities to global and regional environmental change
- 10 Intrinsic and extrinsic controls on the diversification of the Bivalvia
- 11 Global events and biotic interaction as controls on the evolution of gastropods
- 12 Algal symbiosis, and the collapse and recovery of reef communities: Lazarus corals across the K–T boundary
- 13 Changes in the diversity, taxic composition and life-history patterns of echinoids over the past 145 million years
- 14 Origin of the modern bryozoan fauna
- 15 Angiosperm diversification and Cretaceous environmental change
- 16 Cenozoic evolution of modern plant communities and vegetation
- 17 Leaf physiognomy and climate change
- 18 Biotic response to Late Quaternary global change – the pollen record: a case study from the Upper Thames Valley, England
- 19 The Cretaceous and Cenozoic record of insects (Hexapoda) with regard to global change
- 20 The palaeoclimatological significance of Late Cenozoic Coleoptera: familiar species in very unfamiliar circumstances
- 21 Amphibians, reptiles and birds: a biogeographical review
- 22 Paleogene mammals: crises and ecological change
- 23 Response of Old World terrestrial vertebrate biotas to Neogene climate change
- 24 Mammalian response to global change in the later Quaternary of the British Isles
- 25 Human evolution: how an African primate became global
- 26 The biotic response to global change: a summary
- References
- Index
25 - Human evolution: how an African primate became global
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Cretaceous world
- 3 The Cenozoic world
- 4 Calcareous nannoplankton and global climate change
- 5 Phenotypic response of foraminifera to episodes of global environmental change
- 6 The response of planktonic foraminifera to the Late Pliocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation
- 7 The response of Cretaceous cephalopods to global change
- 8 Global change and the fossil fish record: the relevance of systematics
- 9 Response of shallow water foraminiferal palaeocommunities to global and regional environmental change
- 10 Intrinsic and extrinsic controls on the diversification of the Bivalvia
- 11 Global events and biotic interaction as controls on the evolution of gastropods
- 12 Algal symbiosis, and the collapse and recovery of reef communities: Lazarus corals across the K–T boundary
- 13 Changes in the diversity, taxic composition and life-history patterns of echinoids over the past 145 million years
- 14 Origin of the modern bryozoan fauna
- 15 Angiosperm diversification and Cretaceous environmental change
- 16 Cenozoic evolution of modern plant communities and vegetation
- 17 Leaf physiognomy and climate change
- 18 Biotic response to Late Quaternary global change – the pollen record: a case study from the Upper Thames Valley, England
- 19 The Cretaceous and Cenozoic record of insects (Hexapoda) with regard to global change
- 20 The palaeoclimatological significance of Late Cenozoic Coleoptera: familiar species in very unfamiliar circumstances
- 21 Amphibians, reptiles and birds: a biogeographical review
- 22 Paleogene mammals: crises and ecological change
- 23 Response of Old World terrestrial vertebrate biotas to Neogene climate change
- 24 Mammalian response to global change in the later Quaternary of the British Isles
- 25 Human evolution: how an African primate became global
- 26 The biotic response to global change: a summary
- References
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, I will review the course of human evolution, and examine possible interactions between hominids and their environments, as these are affected by climatic change, at five important stages:
The origin of hominines;
The origins of the genera Homo and Paranthropus;
The dispersal of early humans to Eurasia;
The evolution of the Neanderthals;
The origin and dispersal of modern humans.
The basic course of human evolution as understood today is represented in Fig. 25.1. An Early Pliocene radiation of bipedal, but ape-like, australopithecines was followed by the Late Pliocene evolution of two more derived clades, perhaps under the influence of drier environments produced by increasing glaciation, or uplift in East Africa. The ‘robust australopithecines’ (genus Paranthropus) underwent gnathic and dental specialization, probably for small hard object feeding (e.g. seeds, nuts), while the other clade became more omnivorous and encephalized, leading to the origin of the genus Homo. An early Homo species dispersed from Africa, probably during the terminal Pliocene, and its descendants are represented by the Homo erectus fossils of eastern Asia and Indonesia. However, the colonization of Europe may have been a Pleistocene event accompanied by amplification of the glacial–interglacial cycles, and while erectus persisted in the East, a new species, Homo heidelbergensis, evolved in Europe and/or Africa during the Mid Pleistocene.
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- Biotic Response to Global ChangeThe Last 145 Million Years, pp. 379 - 390Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000
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