A major change in rate of climate niche envelope evolution during hominid history
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2020-11
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Homo sapiens is the only species alive able to take advantage of its cognitive abilities
to inhabit almost all environments on Earth. Humans are able to culturally
construct, rather than biologically inherit, their occupied climatic niche to a degree
unparalleled within the animal kingdom. Precisely, when hominins acquired
such an ability remains unknown, and scholars disagree on the extent towhich our
ancestors shared this same ability. Here, we settle this issue using fine-grained paleoclimatic
data, extensive archaeological data, and phylogenetic comparative
methods. Our results indicate that whereas early hominins were forced to live under
physiologically suitable climatic conditions, with the emergence of
H. heidelbergensis, the Homo climatic niche expanded beyond its natural limits,
despite progressive harshening in global climates. This indicates that technological
innovations providing effective exploitation of cold and seasonal habitats
predated the emergence of Homo sapiens.
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MONDANARO, Alessandro et al. A major change in rate of climate niche envelope evolution during hominid history. iScience, Amsterdam, v. 23, n. 111, p. 101693, Nov. 2020.