Calcium isotopic ecology of Turkana Basin hominins.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32681008.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-17427-7 and PMC identifier 7367883.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Diet is a major driver of hominin evolution, but most of the geochemical evidence relies on carbon isotopes (δ<sup>13</sup>C). Here, we report enamel stable calcium isotope (δ<sup>44/42</sup>Ca) values against δ<sup>13</sup>C values for several hominins and co-existing primates in the Turkana Basin area, circa 4 to 2 Ma. Australopithecus anamensis clusters with mammal browsers, Kenyanthropus platyops is distinct from A. anamensis in foraging into more open environments and the coexisting Theropithecus brumpti encompasses both the grazer and omnivore/carnivore domains. Early Homo is remarkable for its wide distribution in δ<sup>44/42</sup>Ca values, possibly reflecting omnivorous and opportunistic preferences. Paranthropus boisei is uniquely distributed in the δ<sup>13</sup>C versus δ<sup>44/42</sup>Ca iso-space being distinct from all other hominins from the Turkana Basin area as well as from the co-existing Theropithecus oswaldi. Several hypotheses are explored to discuss the unique δ<sup>44/42</sup>Ca values of Paranthropus boisei including significant differences observed with δ<sup>44/42</sup>Ca values recently reported for P. robustus from South Africa, questioning the monophyly of this genus.
Medical subject headings
- Calcium Isotopes
- Carbon Isotopes
- Hominidae