African Biogeography, Climate Change, and Human Evolution

African Biogeography, Climate Change, and Human Evolution PDF

Author: Timothy G. Bromage

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2000-01-27

Total Pages: 496

ISBN-13: 9780195114379

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Bringing an ecological and biogeographic perspective to recent fossil finds, this book provides a new synthesis of ideas on hominid evolution and will be a valuable resource for a variety of researchers.

African Biogeography, Climate Change & Human Evolution

African Biogeography, Climate Change & Human Evolution PDF

Author: Timothy G. Bromage

Publisher:

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780197700112

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Interpreting early human evolution in the context of the local ecology and adaptation to specific habitats, this interdisciplinary book systematically assesses the possible role of climate change in driving early human evolution.

African Ecology and Human Evolution

African Ecology and Human Evolution PDF

Author: François Bourlière

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-11-05

Total Pages: 694

ISBN-13: 1136529969

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This pioneering volume summarizes the results of diverse research on Pleistocene environments and the cultural and biological evolution of man in Africa. The book includes chapters on Pleistocene stratigraphy and climatic changes throughout the African continent; on the ecology, biology and sociology of African primate and human populations. Contributors include: C. Arambourg, P. Biberson, W. W. Bishop, Geoffrey Bond, F. Bourlière, Karl W. Butzer, Desmond Clark, H. B. S. Cooke, Irven DeVore, John T. Emlen, A. T. Grove, J. de Heinzelin, J. Hiernaux, Clark Howell, L. S. B. Leakey, I. Liben, T. Monod, R. F. Moreau, R. A. pullan, J. T. Robinson, George B. Schaller, S. L. Washburn. Originally published in 1964.

Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution

Understanding Climate's Influence on Human Evolution PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2010-04-17

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 0309148383

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The hominin fossil record documents a history of critical evolutionary events that have ultimately shaped and defined what it means to be human, including the origins of bipedalism; the emergence of our genus Homo; the first use of stone tools; increases in brain size; and the emergence of Homo sapiens, tools, and culture. The Earth's geological record suggests that some evolutionary events were coincident with substantial changes in African and Eurasian climate, raising the possibility that critical junctures in human evolution and behavioral development may have been affected by the environmental characteristics of the areas where hominins evolved. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution explores the opportunities of using scientific research to improve our understanding of how climate may have helped shape our species. Improved climate records for specific regions will be required before it is possible to evaluate how critical resources for hominins, especially water and vegetation, would have been distributed on the landscape during key intervals of hominin history. Existing records contain substantial temporal gaps. The book's initiatives are presented in two major research themes: first, determining the impacts of climate change and climate variability on human evolution and dispersal; and second, integrating climate modeling, environmental records, and biotic responses. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution suggests a new scientific program for international climate and human evolution studies that involve an exploration initiative to locate new fossil sites and to broaden the geographic and temporal sampling of the fossil and archeological record; a comprehensive and integrative scientific drilling program in lakes, lake bed outcrops, and ocean basins surrounding the regions where hominins evolved and a major investment in climate modeling experiments for key time intervals and regions that are critical to understanding human evolution.

Living in a Dangerous Climate

Living in a Dangerous Climate PDF

Author: Renée Hetherington

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-04-30

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1107379334

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Living in a Dangerous Climate provides a journey through human and Earth history, showing how a changing climate has affected human evolution and society. Is it possible for humanity to evolve quickly, or is slow, gradual, genetic evolution the only way we change? Why did all other Homo species go extinct while Homo sapiens became dominant? How did agriculture, domestication and the use of fossil fuels affect humanity's growing dominance? Do today's dominant societies - devoted as they are to Darwinism and 'survival of the fittest' - contribute to our current failure to meet the hazards of a dangerous climate? Unique and thought provoking, the book links scientific knowledge and perspectives of evolution, climate change and economics in a way that is accessible and exciting for the general reader. The book is also valuable for courses on climate change, human evolution and environmental science.

The Cradle of Humanity

The Cradle of Humanity PDF

Author: Mark Maslin

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0198704526

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POPULAR SCIENCE. Humans are rather weak when compared with many other animals. We are not particular fast and have no natural weapons. Yet Homo sapiens currently number nearly 7.5 billion and are set to rise to nearly 10 billion by the middle of this century. We have influenced almost every part of the Earth system and as a consequence are changing the global environmental and evolutionary trajectory of the Earth. So how did we become the worlds apex predator and take over the planet? Fundamental to our success is our intelligence, not only individually but more importantly collectively. But why did evolution favour the brainy ape? Given the calorific cost of running our large brains, not to mention the difficulties posed for childbirth, this bizarre adaptation must have given our ancestors a considerable advantage.

Human Biogeography

Human Biogeography PDF

Author: Alexander Harcourt

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2012-05-02

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0520272110

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“Human Biogeography, is an outstanding publication that serves as an unrivaled synthesis and nexus of two disciplines – human diversity and biogeography.” --Mark Lomolino, co-author of Biogeography “This is the first book to explain and illustrate what human biogeography is all about. Moreover, Human Biogeography gives us a highly persuasive demonstration that anyone looking for answers about our diversity as a species and our impact on the planet must take biogeography into account. An outstanding work of scholarship supported by an immense depth and breadth of knowledge. ” --John Edward Terrell, Regenstein Curator of Pacific Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History

Only in Africa

Only in Africa PDF

Author: Norman Owen-Smith

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-10-07

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 1108963188

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That humans originated from Africa is well-known. However, this is widely regarded as a chance outcome, dependant simply on where our common ancestor shared the land with where the great apes lived. This volume builds on from the 'Out of Africa' theory, and takes the view that it is only in Africa that the evolutionary transitions from a forest-inhabiting frugivore to savanna-dwelling meat-eater could have occurred. This book argues that the ecological circumstances that shaped these transitions are exclusive to Africa. It describes distinctive features of the ecology of Africa, with emphasis on savanna grasslands, and relates them to the evolutionary transitions linking early ape-men to modern humans. It shows how physical features of the continent, especially those derived from plate tectonics, set the foundations. This volume adequately conveys that we are here because of the distinctive features of the ecology of Africa.

African Paleoecology and Human Evolution

African Paleoecology and Human Evolution PDF

Author: Sally C. Reynolds

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-06-09

Total Pages: 597

ISBN-13: 1107074037

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A comprehensive account of hominin fossil sites across Africa, including the environmental and ecological evidence central to our understanding of human evolution.