Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Comparative Primate and Mammalian Bone Microstructure

Cuny Hunter College, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Most studies of the behavior and biology of extinct primates rely upon the examination of the size and external features of fossil material. Often overlooked is the information that can be derived from the analysis of the microscopic structure of bone. The benefits of the latter approach, evidenced for example in the recent dinosaur literature, are particularly great where fossil materials are incomplete, as is usually the case. Despite this tremendous potential, studies of mammalian bone microstructure are rare. This project provides a much needed foundation regarding microstructural variability among the living primates. Four bone microstructural features are examined in the long bones from 10 living primate species, and several other relevant mammals. Each of these features - visible when thin cross-sections of bone are observed under a microscope - has been linked to bone strength in locomotion and/or aspects of life-history (the schedule by which animals grow, reproduce, and die). The intent is first to observe and describe existing variation. But, more importantly, the study is designed to identify the factors that may be driving this microstructural variability (body size, locomotory patterns, etc.). Once the relationship between these factors and the microstructural features is elucidated, several fossil primates, selected for their relevance to the understanding of early primate evolution, will be examined. It is expect that the microstructural investigation will illuminate previously obscure aspects of the biology and behavior of these extinct animals. This research constitutes one of several ongoing projects in the Hard Tissue Research Unit at Hunter College, City University of New York. As a whole, the laboratory is generating a database of information with applications to anthropology and to the study of vertebrate skeletons in general. These data are additionally relevant to the clinically-oriented bone biology field; all bone is not like human bone, and an appreciation of the variability that exists provides the context within which human bone structure and function is understood. Finally, new methods developed in the course of the study will become available to the community of bone biologists and comparative morphologists at