Dataset Information

Increase on environmental seasonality through the European Early Pleistocene inferred from dental enamel hypoplasia.

ABSTRACT: An in-depth study of the Early Pleistocene European remains of Hippopotamus has allowed the first detailed description of the incidence and types of dental alterations related to palaeopathologies and potentially linked to climatic and environmental factors. The results of a long-term qualitative and quantitative assessment highlight the importance of nutrient deficiencies on the development of dental enamel hypoplasia in Hippopotamus. Glacial cyclicity and the resulting changes in humidity and plant community structure conditioned the local environments critical for the survival of this taxon. Two main intervals of putative constrained nutritionally restrictions were detected at ca. 1.8 Ma and ca. 0.86 Ma (i.e., MIS63 and MIS21, respectively). Statistical comparisons show an increase in the frequency of dental hypoplasia between these two chronological periods, thus reinforcing the idea of increased seasonality in the circum-Mediterranean environments during the Early Pleistocene.

SUBMITTER: Fidalgo D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10560273 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Increase on environmental seasonality through the European Early Pleistocene inferred from dental enamel hypoplasia.

Fidalgo Darío D Rosas Antonio A Bartolini-Lucenti Saverio S Boisserie Jean-Renaud JR Pandolfi Luca L Martínez-Navarro Bienvenido B Palmqvist Paul P Rook Lorenzo L Madurell-Malapeira Joan J

Scientific reports 20231007 1

An in-depth study of the Early Pleistocene European remains of Hippopotamus has allowed the first detailed description of the incidence and types of dental alterations related to palaeopathologies and potentially linked to climatic and environmental factors. The results of a long-term qualitative and quantitative assessment highlight the importance of nutrient deficiencies on the development of dental enamel hypoplasia in Hippopotamus. Glacial cyclicity and the resulting changes in humidity and ...[more]

PMID: 37805524

Similar Datasets

Project description:The sequencing of ancient DNA has enabled the reconstruction of speciation, migration and admixture events for extinct taxa1. However, the irreversible post-mortem degradation2 of ancient DNA has so far limited its recovery-outside permafrost areas-to specimens that are not older than approximately 0.5 million years (Myr)3. By contrast, tandem mass spectrometry has enabled the sequencing of approximately 1.5-Myr-old collagen type I4, and suggested the presence of protein residues in fossils of the Cretaceous period5-although with limited phylogenetic use6. In the absence of molecular evidence, the speciation of several extinct species of the Early and Middle Pleistocene epoch remains contentious. Here we address the phylogenetic relationships of the Eurasian Rhinocerotidae of the Pleistocene epoch7-9, using the proteome of dental enamel from a Stephanorhinus tooth that is approximately 1.77-Myr old, recovered from the archaeological site of Dmanisi (South Caucasus, Georgia)10. Molecular phylogenetic analyses place this Stephanorhinus as a sister group to the clade formed by the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) and Merck's rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis). We show that Coelodonta evolved from an early Stephanorhinus lineage, and that this latter genus includes at least two distinct evolutionary lines. The genus Stephanorhinus is therefore currently paraphyletic, and its systematic revision is needed. We demonstrate that sequencing the proteome of Early Pleistocene dental enamel overcomes the limitations of phylogenetic inference based on ancient collagen or DNA. Our approach also provides additional information about the sex and taxonomic assignment of other specimens from Dmanisi. Our findings reveal that proteomic investigation of ancient dental enamel-which is the hardest tissue in vertebrates11, and is highly abundant in the fossil record-can push the reconstruction of molecular evolution further back into the Early Pleistocene epoch, beyond the currently known limits of ancient DNA preservation.

Project description:Japanese macaques are ideal to advance understanding of a wide-spread pattern of recurrent developmental distress in great apes, preserved as repetitive linear enamel hypoplasia (rLEH). Not only are they numerous, unendangered, and well-studied, but they are distributed from warm-temperate evergreen habitats in southern Japan to cool-temperate habitats in the north, where they are adapted behaviorally and phenotypically to winter cold and seasonal undernutrition. We provide a pilot study to determine if enamel hypoplasia exists in Japanese macaques from the north and, if temporal patterns of enamel hypoplasia are consistent with seasonal cold, undernutrition and/or exposure to secondary plant compounds. High-resolution casts of canine teeth from 15 males obtained from Shimokita Peninsula (latitude 41.3° N) between 2012 and 2014, whose skeletons are curated at the Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, were imaged by confocal and scanning electron microscopy. Perikymata, the surface expression of regularly deposited imbricational layers of enamel, provide an estimate of time between and within hypoplastic enamel defects. Based on histological sections from five individuals, we determined Retzius periodicity to be 7 days. Evidence for recurrence, duration, and severity of 68 LEH defects was collected from perikymata counts as well as measurements of LEH angle of onset, depth and width. Male canine teeth show four to five recurrent, evenly-spaced enamel defects per crown with a median of 54.8 (range 18-74) perikymata between defects; lasting on average 8.7 (range 1-20) perikymata. These translate into repetitive developmental distress averaging every 1.05 years, lasting 8.7 weeks, less than local winter foraging conditions (100 days). We conclude that linear enamel hypoplasia recurs circ-annually among high-latitude male monkeys from Japan. The triad of cold, hunger and anti-feedants can be differentiated in future study through recourse to provisioned and un-provisioned populations throughout the Japanese archipelago.

Project description:Until recently, our understanding of the evolution of human growth and development derived from studies of fossil juveniles that employed extant populations for both age determination and comparison. This circular approach has led to considerable debate about the human-like and ape-like affinities of fossil hominins. Teeth are invaluable for understanding maturation as age at death can be directly assessed from dental microstructure, and dental development has been shown to correlate with life history across primates broadly. We employ non-destructive synchrotron imaging to characterize incremental development, molar emergence, and age at death in more than 20 Australopithecus anamensis, Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus and South African early Homo juveniles. Long-period line periodicities range from at least 6-12 days (possibly 5-13 days), and do not support the hypothesis that australopiths have lower mean values than extant or fossil Homo. Crown formation times of australopith and early Homo postcanine teeth fall below or at the low end of extant human values; Paranthropus robustus dentitions have the shortest formation times. Pliocene and early Pleistocene hominins show remarkable variation, and previous reports of age at death that employ a narrow range of estimated long-period line periodicities, cuspal enamel thicknesses, or initiation ages are likely to be in error. New chronological ages for SK 62 and StW 151 are several months younger than previous histological estimates, while Sts 24 is more than one year older. Extant human standards overestimate age at death in hominins predating Homo sapiens, and should not be applied to other fossil taxa. We urge caution when inferring life history as aspects of dental development in Pliocene and early Pleistocene fossils are distinct from modern humans and African apes, and recent work has challenged the predictive power of primate-wide associations between hominoid first molar emergence and certain life history variables.

Project description:Tooth crown tissue proportions and enamel thickness distribution are considered reliable characters for inferring taxonomic identity, phylogenetic relationships, dietary and behavioural adaptations in fossil and extant hominids. While most Pleistocene hominins display variations from thick to hyper-thick enamel, Neanderthals exhibit relatively thinner. However, the chronological and geographical origin for the appearance of this typical Neanderthal condition is still unknown. The European late Early Pleistocene species Homo antecessor (Gran Dolina-TD6 site, Sierra de Atapuerca) represents an opportunity to investigate the appearance of the thin condition in the fossil record. In this study, we aim to test the hypothesis if H. antecessor molars approximates the Neanderthal condition for tissue proportions and enamel thickness. To do so, for the first time we characterised the molar inner structural organization in this Early Pleistocene hominin taxon (n = 17) and compared it to extinct and extant populations of the genus Homo from African, Asian and European origin (n = 355). The comparative sample includes maxillary and mandibular molars belonging to H. erectus, East and North African Homo, European Middle Pleistocene Homo, Neanderthals, and fossil and extant H. sapiens. We used high-resolution images to investigate the endostructural configuration of TD6 molars (tissue proportions, enamel thickness and distribution). TD6 permanent molars tend to exhibit on average thick absolute and relative enamel in 2D and 3D estimates, both in the complete crown and the lateral enamel. This condition is shared with the majority of extinct and extant hominin sample, except for Neanderthals and some isolated specimens. However, while the total crown percentage of dentine in TD6 globally resembles the low modern values, the lateral crown percentage of dentine tends to be much higher, closer to the Neanderthal signal. Similarly, the H. antecessor molar enamel distribution maps reveal a relative distribution pattern that is more similar to the Neanderthal condition (with the thickest enamel more spread at the periphery of the occlusal basin) rather than that of other fossil specimens and modern humans (with thicker cuspal enamel). Future studies on European Middle Pleistocene populations will provide more insights into the evolutionary trajectory of the typical Neanderthal dental structural organization.

Dataset Information

Increase on environmental seasonality through the European Early Pleistocene inferred from dental enamel hypoplasia.

Publications

Increase on environmental seasonality through the European Early Pleistocene inferred from dental enamel hypoplasia.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets