Doctoral Dissertation Research: Investigating adaptation in ancient and contemporary Indigenous peoples

University Of Connecticut, Storrs CT

Investigators

Abstract

Humans thrive in diverse and extreme environments around the world thanks to biological and social mechanisms including adaptation by natural selection, habitat construction, and cultural innovations. While many studies have investigated the genetic basis of adaptation to extreme environments, there is much to be discovered about how social and cultural processes also interact to contribute to human survival and flourishing. This doctoral dissertation project combines genetic, archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic analyses to investigate adaptation through time to both natural and social environmental pressures. The multifaceted approach of this project will advance the understanding of human adaptation as well as expand the currently limited representation of Indigenous peoples of the Americas in genomic studies of human variation. The project provides mentorship and training in anthropological genomic methods to graduate and undergraduate researchers and contributes to community and public science outreach efforts. This project employs biocultural theoretical frameworks to integrate evidence from archaeology, ethnohistory, ethnography, and genomics and develop a more complete and nuanced picture of human survival and flourishing in extreme environments. The study employs next-generation genome sequencing technology, isotope and radiocarbon analyses, statistical tests for natural selection, and reconstructions of population history to assess genetic variation and identify genes under selection in ancient and contemporary Indigenous peoples over a timespan of about six thousand years. These data will be used to shed light on possible parallel adaptation in extreme environments where cold temperatures and limited diets may have had similar effects on human populations. Additionally, this study will investigate adaptation after European contact when the introduction of novel diseases may have acted as a strong selective pressure. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.