Fine-scaled climate variation in equatorial Africa revealed by modern and fossil primate teeth

Author:

Green Daniel R.1ORCID,Ávila Janaina N.2ORCID,Cote Susanne3ORCID,Dirks Wendy4ORCID,Lee Daeun5ORCID,Poulsen Christopher J.5ORCID,Williams Ian S.6ORCID,Smith Tanya M.27ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Climate School, Columbia University, New York, NY 10964

2. Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia

3. Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada

4. Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom

5. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

6. Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

7. Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia

Abstract

Variability in resource availability is hypothesized to be a significant driver of primate adaptation and evolution, but most paleoclimate proxies cannot recover environmental seasonality on the scale of an individual lifespan. Oxygen isotope compositions (δ 18 O values) sampled at high spatial resolution in the dentitions of modern African primates ( n = 2,352 near weekly measurements from 26 teeth) track concurrent seasonal precipitation, regional climatic patterns, discrete meteorological events, and niche partitioning. We leverage these data to contextualize the first δ 18 O values of two 17 Ma Afropithecus turkanensis individuals from Kalodirr, Kenya, from which we infer variably bimodal wet seasons, supported by rainfall reconstructions in a global Earth system model. Afropithecus ’ δ 18 O fluctuations are intermediate in magnitude between those measured at high resolution in baboons ( Papio spp.) living across a gradient of aridity and modern forest-dwelling chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes verus ). This large-bodied Miocene ape consumed seasonally variable food and water sources enriched in 18 O compared to contemporaneous terrestrial fauna ( n = 66 fossil specimens). Reliance on fallback foods during documented dry seasons potentially contributed to novel dental features long considered adaptations to hard-object feeding. Developmentally informed microsampling recovers greater ecological complexity than conventional isotope sampling; the two Miocene apes ( n = 248 near weekly measurements) evince as great a range of seasonal δ 18 O variation as more time-averaged bulk measurements from 101 eastern African Plio-Pleistocene hominins and 42 papionins spanning 4 million y. These results reveal unprecedented environmental histories in primate teeth and suggest a framework for evaluating climate change and primate paleoecology throughout the Cenozoic.

Funder

The Australian Research Council

The Wenner-Gren Foundation

Publisher

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Subject

Multidisciplinary

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