Matching Items (2)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Biological Anthropology
- Creators: Reed, Kaye
- Creators: Schwartz, Gary
Description
Arguments of human uniqueness emphasize our complex sociality, unusual cognitive capacities, and language skills, but the timing of the origin of these abilities and their evolutionary causes remain unsolved. Though not unique to primates, kin-biased sociality was key to the success of the primate order. In contrast to ancestral solitary mammals, the earliest primates are thought to have maintained dispersed (non-group living) social networks, communicating over distances via vocalizations and scent marks. If such ancestral primates recognized kin, those networks may have facilitated the evolution of kin-biased sociality in the primate order and created selection for increased cognitive and communicative abilities. I used the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) to model whether vocalizations could have facilitated matrilineal and patrilineal kin recognition in ancestral primates. Much like mouse lemurs today, ancestral primates are thought to have been small-bodied, nocturnal creatures that captured insects and foraged for fruit in the thin, terminal ends of tree branches. Thus, the mouse lemur is an excellent model species because its ecological niche is likely to be similar to that of ancestral primates 55-90 million years ago. I conducted playback experiments in Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar testing whether mouse lemur agonistic calls contain matrilineal kin signatures and whether the lemurs recognize matrilineal kin. In contrast to large-brained, socially complex monkeys with frequent coalitionary behavior, mouse lemurs did not react differently to the agonistic calls of matrilineal kin and nonkin, though moderate signatures were present in the calls. I tested for patrilineal signatures and patrilineal kin recognition via mating and alarm calls in a colony with known pedigree relationships. The results are the first to demonstrate that a nocturnal, solitary foraging mammal gives mating calls with patrilineal signatures and recognizes patrilineal kin. Interestingly, alarm calls did not have signatures and did not facilitate kin recognition, suggesting that selection for kin recognition is stronger in some call types than others. As this dissertation is the first investigation of vocal kin recognition in a dispersed-living, nocturnal strepsirrhine primate, it greatly advances our knowledge of the role of vocal communication in the evolution of primate social complexity.
ContributorsKessler, Sharon E (Author) / Nash, Leanne (Thesis advisor) / Reed, Kaye (Thesis advisor) / Radespiel, Ute (Committee member) / Zimmermann, Elke (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Teratomas are germ cell tumors that can generate a broad spectrum of biological tissues including: hair, oil glands, bones, and teeth. Little research has focused on the detailed comparison of teeth from growing within teratomas to teeth that grew normally within the oral cavity. Broad similarities in the overall pattern of dental growth have previously been observed using average enamel thickness, a measurement of enamel height, comparisons. Enamel thickness is used to infer functional aspects of dentition. Relative enamel thickness values have not been used in previous studies to account for the difference in size of the teeth.
ASU’s Bioarchaeology of Nubia Expedition (BONE) led by Dr. Brenda Baker discovered the remains of a female individual from the Classic Kerma period with a preserved large teratoma containing hard tissue components including two molariform teeth. There are only three previous recorded instances of teratomas in a paleopathological setting.
This study analyzed the characteristics of teeth found within a teratoma and compared them to permanent oral dentition to ascertain the degree to which dental development is affected by local growth environment. Permanent (oral) molars from multiple individuals and 2 teratoma teeth from a singular individual from the BONE site were analyzed alongside a comparative sample of permanent (oral) molars from an unrelated, more modern population. MicroCT scans were used to create digital renditions of the teeth to create 3D and 2D models to analyze the enamel and dentine of the teeth to measure their morphological characteristics. The relative enamel thickness and the absolute occlusal enamel volumes were calculated. The study found that there are significant differences in enamel thickness between the teratoma teeth and any of its oral cavity counterparts.
This study is unique in that it is the first study to analyze teeth from a teratoma to permanent teeth from the oral cavity using 2D and 3D digital dental models created from microCT data. It is also the first study to analyze these morphological characteristics in an archaeological sample.
ASU’s Bioarchaeology of Nubia Expedition (BONE) led by Dr. Brenda Baker discovered the remains of a female individual from the Classic Kerma period with a preserved large teratoma containing hard tissue components including two molariform teeth. There are only three previous recorded instances of teratomas in a paleopathological setting.
This study analyzed the characteristics of teeth found within a teratoma and compared them to permanent oral dentition to ascertain the degree to which dental development is affected by local growth environment. Permanent (oral) molars from multiple individuals and 2 teratoma teeth from a singular individual from the BONE site were analyzed alongside a comparative sample of permanent (oral) molars from an unrelated, more modern population. MicroCT scans were used to create digital renditions of the teeth to create 3D and 2D models to analyze the enamel and dentine of the teeth to measure their morphological characteristics. The relative enamel thickness and the absolute occlusal enamel volumes were calculated. The study found that there are significant differences in enamel thickness between the teratoma teeth and any of its oral cavity counterparts.
This study is unique in that it is the first study to analyze teeth from a teratoma to permanent teeth from the oral cavity using 2D and 3D digital dental models created from microCT data. It is also the first study to analyze these morphological characteristics in an archaeological sample.
ContributorsSchander-Triplett, Katherine (Author) / Schwartz, Gary (Thesis director) / Baker, Brenda (Committee member) / Ortiz, Alejandra (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12