Isotope Ecology and Paleoecology in East Africa in the Past 4 Ma

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this funded project is to study how diets of the major mammal groups in East Africa have changed over the past 4 million years. The project will use stable isotopes and tooth morphology, which evolves in response to diet preference, to understand changes to diet over time. This project will provide insight into the evolutionary processes that relate diet to tooth morphology, and it will provide a better understanding of how to use isotopes to interpret diet in humans and other mammals. This project includes a strong team of international collaborators, an education and outreach program that will link students in Utah with students in Kenya, and will contribute to understanding dietary evolution at ecological timescales. In East Africa, where early humans evolved, stable isotopes provide an important tool that can be used to study how diets have changed over time. Previous work has shown that the modern dietary preferences for some mammalian groups is quite different than their most closely related ancestors. By using modern observations and working in the controlled environments of zoos, it will be possible to better quantify the diet-tissue-isotope relationship that is related to physiology (e.g., hindgut versus foregut digestion). In addition, carbon isotopes will be used to study grazing versus browsing preferences, and Mg-isotopes will be used to study trophic structure. Further, the research components of the project are strongly integrated with the broader impacts goals of the project, and students will learn how to use isotopes to study dietary preferences and spatial variation between different domestic animals (e.g., goats, sheep, cattle) from different regions.