Dietary and paleoenvironmental reconstruction using stable isotopes of herbivore tooth enamel from middle Pliocene Dikika, Ethiopia: Implication for Australopithecus afarensis habitat and food resources

Journal of Human Evolution

Volumn 64, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 21-38

  Bedaso, Zelalem K ^a,d   Wynn, Jonathan G ^a   Alemseged, Zeresenay ^b   Geraads, Denis ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA   (United States)

^b CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES   (United States)

^c Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique   (France)

^d JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Australopithecus afarensis; Dikika; Ethiopia; Middle Pliocene; Stable isotope; Tooth enamel

Indexed keywords

ARIDITY; C4 PLANT; CARBON ISOTOPE; COMPETITION (ECOLOGY); DIET; ENAMEL; ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE; HERBIVORE; HOMINID; ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS; OXYGEN ISOTOPE; PALEOCLIMATE; PALEOECOLOGY; PALEOENVIRONMENT; PLIOCENE; RECONSTRUCTION; RELATIVE ABUNDANCE; SEASONALITY; STABLE ISOTOPE;

DIKIKA; ETHIOPIA;

AUSTRALOPITHECUS AFARENSIS; MAMMALIA; POACEAE; ZANCLEA;

EID: 84872027103     PISSN: 00472484     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.05.015     Document Type: Article

References (99)

1. Alemseged Z., Geraads D. A new Middle Pleistocene fauna from the Busidima-Telalak region of the Afar, Ethiopia. C. R. Acad. Sci., Sci. Terre Planètes 2000, 331:549-556.
2. Alemseged Z., Wynn J., Kimbel W., Reed D., Geraads D., Bobe R. First hominin from the Basal Member of the Hadar Formation, Dikika, Ethiopia and its geological context. J. Hum. Evol. 2005, 49:499-514.
3. Alemseged Z., Bobe R., Geraads D., Kimbel W.H., Reed D., Spoor F., Wynn J.G. A juvenile early hominin skeleton from Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature 2006, 443:296-301.
4. Alemseged Z., Bobe R. Diet in early hominin species: a paleoenvironmental perspective. The Evolution of Hominid Diets: Integrating Approaches to the Study of Palaeolithic Subsistence 2009, 179-186. Springer, Dordrecht. J.J. Hublin, M.P. Richards (Eds.).
5. Aronson J.L., Hailemichael M., Savin S.M. Hominid environments at Hadar from paleosol studies in a framework of Ethiopian climate change. J. Hum. Evol. 2008, 55:532-550.
6. Bedaso Z.K., Wynn J.G., Alemseged Z., Geraads D. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Asbole fauna (Busidima Formation, Afar, Ethiopia) using stable isotopes. Geobios 2010, 43:165-177.
7. Behrensmeyer A.K., Bobe R., Alemseged Z. Approaches to the analysis of faunal change during the East African Pliocene. Hominin Environments in the East African Pliocene: An Assessment of the Faunal Evidence 2007, 1-24. Springer, Dordrecht. R. Bobe, Z. Alemseged, A.K. Behrensmeyer (Eds.).
8. Bernor R.L., Kaiser T.M., Nelson S.V. The oldest Ethiopian Hipparion (Equinae, Perissodactyla) from Chorora. Systematics, paleodiet and paleoclimate. Cour. Forsch-Inst. Senckenberg 2004, 246:213-226.
9. Bernor R.L., Scott R.S., Haile-Selassie Y. A contribution to the evolutionary history of Ethiopian hipparionine horses (Mammalia, Equidae): morphometric evidence from the postcranial skeleton. Geodiversitas 2005, 27:133-158.
10. Beyene A., Abdelsalam M.G. Tectonics of the Afar depression: a review and synthesis. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 2005, 41:41-59.
11. Bishop L.C. Suid paleoecology and habitat preference at African Pliocene and Pleistocene hominid localities. African Biogeography, Climate Change and Human Evolution 1999, 216-225. Oxford University Press, New York. T.G. Bromage, F. Schrenk (Eds.).
12. Bobe, R., 1997. Hominid Environments in the Pliocene: An Analysis of Fossil Mammals from the Omo Valley, Ethiopia. Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Washington.
13. Bobe R., Eck G.G. Responses of African bovids to Pliocene climate change. Paleobiol. 2001, 27(2):1-47.
14. Bobe R., Behrensmeyer A.K., Eck G.G., Harris J.M. Patterns of abundance and diversity in late Cenozoic bovids from the Turkana and Hadar Basins, Kenya and Ethiopia. Hominin Environments in the East African Pliocene: An Assessment of the Faunal Evidence 2007, 129-157. Springer, Dordrecht. R. Bobe, Z. Alemseged, A.K. Behrensmeyer (Eds.).
15. 18O) of mammalian enamel from African Pleistocene hominid sites. Palaios 1996, 11:306-318.
16. Boisserie J.R., Zazzo A., Merceron C., Blondel P., Vignaud A., Likius H.T., Mackaye H.T., Brunet M. Diets of modern and late Miocene hippopotamids: evidence from carbon isotope composition and micro-wear of tooth enamel. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2005, 221:153-174.
17. Bonnefille R., Potts R., Chalie F., Jolly D., Peyron O. High-resolution vegetation and climate change associated with Pliocene Australopithecus afarensis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2004, 101:12125-12129.
18. Bonnefille R. Cenozoic vegetation, climate changes and hominid evolution in tropical Africa. Glob. Planet. Change 2010, 72:390-411.
19. Brunet M.B., Coppens Y.A., Heintz E.M., Pilbeam D.A. The first Australopithecus 2500 km west of the Rift Valley (Chad). Nature 1995, 378:273-275.
20. Bryant J.D., Koch P.L., Froelich P.N., Showers W.J. Oxygen isotope partitioning between phosphate and carbonate in mammalian apatite. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 1996, 60:5145-5148.
21. Campisano C.J., Feibel C. Depositional environments and stratigraphic summary of the Pliocene Hadar Formation at Hadar, Afar Depression, Ethiopia. Geological Society of America Special Paper 446 2008, 179-201. J. Quade, J. Wynn (Eds.).
22. Cerling T.E., Harris J.M., MacFadden B.J., Leakey M.G., Quade J., Eisenmann V., Ehleringer J.R. Global vegetation change through the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. Nature 1997, 389:153-158.
23. Cerling T.E., Harris J.M. Carbon isotopic fractionation between diet and bioapatite in ungulate mammals and implications for ecological and paleoecological studies. Oecologia 1999, 120:347-363.
24. Cerling T.E., Harris J.M., Leakey M.G. Browsing and grazing in elephants: the isotope record of modern and fossil proboscideans. Oecologia 1999, 120:364-374.
25. Cerling T.E., Harris J.M., Leakey M.G. Isotope paleoecology of the Nawata and Nachukui Formations at Lothagam, Turkana Basin, Kenya. Lothagam: The Dawn of Humanity 2003, 605-614. Columbia University Press, New York. M.G. Leakey, J.M. Harris (Eds.).
26. Cerling T.E., Harris J.M., Leakey M.G., Mudida N. Stable isotope ecology of northern Kenya, with emphasis on the Turkana Basin. Lothagam: The Dawn of Humanity in Eastern Africa 2003, 583-603. Columbia University Press, New York. M.G. Leakey, J.M. Harris (Eds.).
27. Cerling T.E., Harris J.M., Passey B.H. Diets of East African Bovidae based on stable isotopic analysis. J. Mammal. 2003, 84:456-470.
28. 2 and its Effects on Plants, Animals, and Ecosystems 2005, 258-272. Springer, New York. J.R. Ehleringer, T.E. Cerling, M.D. Dearing (Eds.).
29. Cerling T.E., Harris J.M., Hart J.A., Kaleme J.A., Leakey M.G., Levin N.E., Lewison R.L., Passey B.H. Stable isotope ecology of the common hippopotamus. J. Zool. 2008, 276:204-212.
30. Cerling T.E., Wynn J.G., Andanje S.A., Bird M.I., Korir D.K., Levin N.E., Mace W., Macharia A.N., Quade J., Remien C.H. Woody cover and hominin environments in the past 6 million years. Nature 2011, 476:51-56.
31. Dansgaard W. Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 1964, 16:436-468.
32. Dart R. Australopithecus africanus: the man-ape of South Africa. Nature 1925, 115:195-199.
33. DeGusta D., Vrba E. A method for inferring paleohabitats from the functional morphology of bovid astragali. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2003, 30:1009-1022.
34. Delaney M.J., Happold D.C. Ecology of African Mammals 1979, Longman Group Limited, New York.
35. 18O in the leaves of transpiring plants. Radiat. Environ. Biophys. 1974, 11:41-52.
36. 2 concentration. Plant Physiol. 1977, 59:86-90.
37. Ehleringer J.R., Dawson T.E. Water uptake by plants: perspectives from stable isotope composition. Plant Cell Environ. 1992, 15:1073-1082.
38. Ehleringer J., Monson R. Evolutionary and ecological aspects of photosynthetic pathways variation. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 1993, 24:411-439.
39. 4 species. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 1983, 10:205-226.
40. Faith J.T., Choiniere J.N., Tryon C.A., Peppe D.J., Fox D.L. Taxonomic status and paleoecology of Rusingoryx atopocranion (Mammalia, Artiodactyla), an extinct Pleistocene bovid from Rusinga Island, Kenya. Quat. Res. 2011, 75:697-707.
41. 4 grassland expansions during the early Pliocene at Langebaanweg, South Africa. Paleobiol. 2002, 28:378-388.
42. Frost S.R., Alemseged Z. Middle Pleistocene fossil Cercopithecidae from Asbole, Afar region, Ethiopia. J. Hum. Evol. 2007, 53:227-259.
43. Gagnon M., Chew A.E. Dietary preferences in extant African Bovidae. J. Mammal 2000, 81:490-511.
44. Geraads D. Le Sivatherium (Giraffidae, Mammalia) du Pliocène final d'Ahl al Oughlam (Casablanca, Maroc) et l'évolution du genre en Afrique. Paläont. Zeitschr. 1985, 70:623-629.
45. Geraads D. Pliocene Rhinocerotidae (Mammalia) from Hadar and Dikika (Lower Awash, Ethiopia), and a revision of the origin of modern African rhinos. J. Vert. Paleontol. 2005, 25:451-461.
46. Geraads D., Alemseged Z., Bobe R., Reed D. Nyctereutes lockwoodi, n. sp., a new canid (Carnivora: Mammalia) from the middle Pliocene of Dikika, Lower Awash, Ethiopia. J. Vert. Paleontol. 2010, 30:981-987.
47. Gray, B.T., 1980. Environmental Reconstruction of the Hadar Formation (Afar, Ethiopia). Ph.D. Dissertation, Case Western Reserve University.
48. 18O in mollusk shells from Pliocene Lake Hadar and modern Ethiopian lakes: Implications for history of the Ethiopian monsoon. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2002, 186:81-99.
49. Harris J.M. Family Suidae. The Fossil Ungulates: Proboscidea, Perissodactyla, and Suidae 1983, vol. 2:215-302. Clarendon Press, Oxford. J.M. Harris (Ed.).
50. Harris J.M. Family Giraffidae. The Fossil Ungulates: Geology, Fossil Artiodactyls, and Palaeoenvironments 1991, vol. 3:93-138. Clarendon Press, Oxford. J.M. Harris (Ed.).
51. Harris J.M., Cerling T.E. Dietary adaptations of extant and Neogene African suids. J. Zool. 2002, 256:45-54.
52. Harris J.M., Cerling T.E., Leakey M.G., Passey B.H. Stable isotope ecology of fossil hippopotamids from the Lake Turkana Basin of East Africa. J. Zool. 2008, 275:323-331.
53. Kappelman J., Plummer T., Bishop L., Duncan A., Appleton S. Bovids as indicators of Plio-Pleistocene paleoenvironments in East Africa. J. Hum. Evol. 1997, 32:229-256.
54. Kimbel W.H. The species and diversity of australopiths. Handbook of Paleoanthropology 2007, 1535-1574. Springer-Verlag, New York. W. Henke, I. Tattersall (Eds.).
55. Kingdon J. Field Guide to African Mammals 1982, Academic Press, San Diego.
56. Kingston J.D. Environmental determinants in early hominid evolution: issues and evidence from the Tugen Hills, Kenya. Late Cenozoic Environments and Hominid Evolution: A Tribute to Bill Bishop 1999, 69-84. Geological Society, London. P. Andrews, P. Banham (Eds.).
57. Kingston J.D., Harrison T. Isotopic dietary reconstructions of Pliocene herbivores at Laetoli: implication for early hominin paleoecology. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 2007, 243:272-306.
58. Koch P. Isotope reconstruction of past continental environments. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 1998, 26:573-613.
59. 18O: accounting for diet and physiological adaptation. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 1996, 60:4811-4829.
60. Kohn M.J., Schoeninger M.J., Valley J.W. Herbivore tooth oxygen isotope compositions: effects of diet and physiology. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 1996, 60:3889-3896.
61. Kullmer O. Evolution of African Plio-Pleistocene suids (Artiodactyla: Suidae) based on tooth pattern analysis. Kaupia, Darmst. Beitr. Naturgesch. 1999, 9:1-34.
62. Lee-Thorp J., van der Merwe N.J. Carbon isotope analysis of fossil bone apatite. S. Afr. J. Sci. 1987, 83:712-715.
63. Lee-Thorp, J.A., 1989. Stable carbon isotopes in Deep Time: the diets of fossil fauna and hominids. Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Cape Town, Cape Town.
64. Levin N.E., Quade J., Simpson S.W., Semaw S., Rogers M. Isotopic evidence for Plio-Pleistocene environmental change at Gona, Ethiopia. Earth Planet Sci. Lett. 2004, 219:93-110.
65. Levin N.E., Cerling T.E., Passey B., Harris J., Ehleringer J. A stable isotope aridity index for terrestrial environments. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2006, 103:11201-11205.
66. Levin N.E., Simpson S.W., Quade J., Cerling T.E., Frost S.R. Herbivore enamel carbon isotopic composition and the environmental context of Ardipithecus at Gona, Ethiopia. Geological Society of America Special Paper 446 2008, 215-234. J. Quade, J.G. Wynn (Eds.).
67. Longinelli A., Nuti S. Revised phosphate water isotopic temperature scale. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 1973, 19:373-376.
68. Longinelli A. Oxygen isotopes in mammal bone phosphate: a new tool for paleohydrological and paleoclimatological research. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 1984, 48:385-390.
69. Lüttge U. Ecophysiology of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Ann. Bot. 2004, 93:629-652.
70. Luz B., Kolodny Y., Horowitz M. Fractionation of oxygen isotopes between mammalian bone phosphate and environmental drinking water. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 1984, 48:1689-1693.
71. Luz B., Kolodny Y. Oxygen isotope variations in phosphate of biogenic apatites. IV. Mammal teeth and bones. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 1985, 75:29-36.
72. 2 inferred from carbon in plant cellulose. Nature 1991, 349:127-131.
73. McPherron S.P., Alemseged Z., Marean W.C., Wynn J.G., Reed D., Geraads D., Bobe R., Bearat A.H. Evidence for stone-tool-assisted consumption of animal tissues before 3.39 million years ago at Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature 2010, 466:857-860.
74. O'Leary M. Carbon isotope in photosynthesis. Bioscience 1988, 38:328-336.
75. Pearcy R.W., Ehleringer J.R. Comparative ecophysiology of C3 and C4 plants. Plant Cell Environ. 1984, 7:1-13.
76. Plummer T.W., Bishop L.C., Hertel F. Habitat preference of extant African bovids based on astragalus morphology: operationalizing ecomorphology for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. J. Archaeol. Sci. 2008, 35:3016-3302.
77. Quade J., Levin N.E., Simpson S.W., Butler R., McIntosh W.C., Semaw S., Kleinsasser L., Dupont-Nivet G., Renne P., Dunbar N. The geology of Gona, Afar, Ethopia. Geological Society of America Special Paper 446 2008, 1-31. J. Quade, J.G. Wynn (Eds.).
78. Reed K.E. Early hominid evolution and ecological change through the African Plio-Pleistocene. J. Hum. Evol. 1997, 32:289-322.
79. Reed K.E. Paleoecological patterns at the Hadar hominin site, Afar Regional State, Ethiopia. J. Hum. Evol. 2008, 54:743-768.
80. Robinson J.T. The genera and species of the Australopithecinae. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 1954, 12:181-200.
81. Sage R.F. C4 plants. Encycl. Biodivers. 2001, 1:575-598.
82. Sage R.F. The evolution of C4 photosynthesis. New Phytol. 2004, 161:341-370.
83. Schoeninger M.J., Reeser H., Hallin K. Paleoenvironment of Australopithecus anamensis at Allia Bay, East Turkana, Kenya: evidence from mammalian herbivore enamel stable isotopes. J. Anthropol. Archaeol. 2003, 22:200-207.
84. Sharp Z.D. Principles of Stable Isotope Geochemistry 2007, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
85. Sponheimer M., Reed K.E., Lee-Thorp J.A. Combining isotopic and ecomorphological data to refine bovid paleodietary reconstruction: a case study from the Makapansgat Limeworks hominin locality. J. Hum. Evol. 1999, 36:705-718.
86. Sponheimer M., Lee-Thorp J.A. Using carbon isotope data of fossil bovid communities for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. S. Afr. J. Sci. 2003, 99:273-275.
87. Sponheimer M., Lee-Thorp J.A., DeRuiter D.J., Smith J.M., van der Merwe N.J., Reed K., Grant C.C., Ayliffe L.K., Robinson T.F., Heidelberger C., Marcus W. Diets of southern African Bovidae: stable isotope evidence. J. Mammal. 2003, 84:471-479.
88. Sternberg L.S.L. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios in plant cellulose: mechanisms and applications. Stable Isotopes in Ecological Research: Ecological Studies Analysis and Synthesis 1989, 124-141. Springer-Verlag, New York. P.W. Rundel, J.R. Ehleringer, K.A. Nagy (Eds.).
89. Taieb M., Johanson D.C., Coppens Y., Aronson J.L. Geological and palaeontological background of Hadar hominid site, Afar, Ethiopia. Nature 1976, 260:289-293.
90. Thornthwaite C.W. An approach toward a rational classification of climate. Geogr. Rev. 1948, 38:55-94.
91. Vrba E.S. Chronological and ecological implications of the fossil Bovidae at the Sterkfontein australopithecine site. Nature 1974, 256:19-23.
92. Vrba E.S. The significance of Bovid remains as indicators of environment and predation patterns. Fossils in the Making: Vertebrate Taphonomy and Paleoecology 1980, 247-271. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. A.K. Behrensmeyer, A.P. Hill (Eds.).
93. Vrba E.S. Environment and evolution: alternative causes of the temporal distribution of evolutionary events. S. Afr. J. Sci. 1985, 81:229-236.
94. Wang Y., Cerling T.E. A model of fossil tooth enamel and bone diagenesis: implications for stable isotope studies and paleoenvironment reconstruction. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 1994, 107:281-289.
95. White T.D., Suwa G., Hart W.K., Walter R.C., Woldegabriel G., Heinzelin J., de Clark J.D., Asfaw B., Vrba E. New discoveries of Australopithecus at Maka in Ethiopia. Nature 1993, 366:261-265.
96. White T.D., Ambrose S.H., Suwa G., Su D.F., DeGusta D., Bernor R.L., Boisserie J., Brunet M., Delson E., Frost S., Garcia N., Giaourtsakis L.X., Haile-Selassie Y., Howell F.C., Lehmann T., Likius A., Pehlevan C., Saegusa H., Semprebon G., Teaford M., Vrba E.S. Macrovertebrate paleontology and the Pliocene habitat of Ardipithecus ramidus. Science 2009, 326:67-93.
97. Wynn J.G., Alemseged Z., Bobe R., Geraads D., Reed D., Roman D.C. Geological and palaeontological context of a Pliocene juvenile hominin at Dikika, Ethiopia. Nature 2006, 443:332-336.
98. Wynn J.G., Roman D.C., Alemseged Z., Reed D., Geraads D., Munro S. Stratigraphy, depositional environment, and basin structure of the Hadar and Busidima Formations at Dikika, Ethiopia. Geol. Soc. Am. Special Paper 446 2008, 87-118. J. Quade, J.G. Wynn (Eds.).
99. Zazzo A., Bocherens H., Brunet M., Beauvilain A., Billiou D., Mackaye H.T., Vignaud P., Mariotti A. Herbivore paleodiet and paleoenvironmental changes in Chad during the Pliocene using stable isotope ratios of tooth enamel carbonate. Paleobiol. 2000, 26:294-309.