Early humans and their hominin relatives had to adapt to new environments to spread out of Africa. In a new study, paleoanthropologists from the Institute for Basic Science, Pusan National University and elsewhere explored the movements of hominins across and preferences for different biomes by comparing six Homo species distributions from the fossil record against simulated climate and vegetation over the past 3 million years. They found that some later species inhabited a broader range of biomes as they spread to colder and more forested areas, especially Homo sapiens, which settled in more extreme habitats (deserts and tundra).
Homo sapiens are the only surviving hominin species today.
However, whether this is because our species was uniquely successful at adapting to Pleistocene environments, because we outcompeted other contemporary Homo species through unique physiological or social adaptations, or because we simply outlived others by chance remains largely unknown.
Although challenging to understand, the connection between hominins and their ecological environment, particularly how Homo species adapted to environmental change and extremes and how this affected survival and migration from Africa and into Eurasia, is central to finding these answers.
“Our genus Homo evolved over the past 3 million years — a period of increasing warm/cold climate fluctuations,” said lead author Elke Zeller, a Ph.D. student at the Institute for Basic Science and Pusan National University, and colleagues.
“How early human species have adapted to the intensification of climate extremes, ice ages, and large-scale shifts in landscapes and vegetation remains elusive.”
“Did our ancestors adjust to local environmental changes over time, or did they seek out more stable environments with diverse food resources?”
“Was our human evolution influenced more by temporal changes in climate, or by the spatial character of the environment?”
To test these fundamental…
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