Pattern and process in hominin brain size evolution are scale-dependent

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
Andrew DuBernard Wood

Abstract

A large brain is a defining feature of modern humans, yet there is no consensus regarding the patterns, rates and processes involved in hominin brain size evolution. We use a reliable proxy for brain size in fossils, endocranial volume (ECV), to better understand how brain size evolved at both clade- and lineage-level scales. For the hominin clade overall, the dominant signal is consistent with a gradual increase in brain size. This gradual trend appears to have been generated primarily by processes operating within hypothesized lineages-64% or 88% depending on whether one uses a more or less speciose taxonomy, respectively. These processes were supplemented by the appearance in the fossil record of larger-brained Homo species and the subsequent disappearance of smaller-brained Australopithecus and Paranthropus taxa. When the estimated rate of within-lineage ECV increase is compared to an exponential model that operationalizes generation-scale evolutionary processes, it suggests that the observed data were the result of episodes of directional selection interspersed with periods of stasis and/or drift; all of this occurs on too fine a timescale to be resolved by the current human fossil record, thus producing apparent gradual t...Continue Reading

Associated Datasets

References

Jan 1, 1992·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·S R Leigh
Jan 1, 1983·Brain, Behavior and Evolution·M A Hofman
Jul 9, 1981·Nature·J E CroninY Rak
Aug 23, 2001·Homo : internationale Zeitschrift für die vergleichende Forschung am Menschen·C De Miguel, M Henneberg
May 26, 2004·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·G Philip Rightmire
Nov 26, 2004·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Joe HerefordDavid Houle
Mar 28, 2008·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Philip M Novack-Gottshall, Michael A Lanier
May 7, 2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Bernard Wood
Feb 5, 2011·Science·Peter B deMenocal
Sep 15, 2011·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·John Hawks
Mar 31, 2012·Nature·Yohannes Haile-SelassieBruce M Latimer
Jun 27, 2012·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Susanne ShultzRobin I M Dunbar
Aug 15, 2012·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Kevin E LangergraberLinda Vigilant
Oct 20, 2012·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Ivania Cerón-SouzaFrank Andrew Jones
Apr 23, 2015·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Gene HuntScott Lidgard
May 23, 2015·Nature·Sonia HarmandHélène Roche
Jul 15, 2015·Journal of Human Evolution·Mark Grabowski, Charles C Roseman
Apr 29, 2016·Biology Letters·Steve C Wang, Charles R Marshall
Jan 2, 2018·Royal Society Open Science·Manuel WillJay T Stock

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Oct 28, 2019·Scientific Reports·Guido Rocatti, S Ivan Perez
Aug 28, 2020·Frontiers in Neural Circuits·Max Bennett
Dec 26, 2018·Journal of Human Evolution·Amélie BeaudetDominic Stratford
Jun 3, 2020·Journal of Human Evolution·Justin PargeterDietrich Stout
Aug 26, 2019·Journal of Theoretical Biology·Manuela Royer-Carenzi, Gilles Didier
Jun 2, 2021·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·J Tyler FaithBernard Wood

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Brain Injury & Trauma

brain injury after impact to the head is due to both immediate mechanical effects and delayed responses of neural tissues.

Related Papers

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
Susanne ShultzRobin Dunbar
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Aida Gómez-RoblesBernard Wood
© 2022 Meta ULC. All rights reserved