TY - JOUR
T1 - Long-term biotic homogenization in the East African Rift System over the last 6 million years of hominin evolution
AU - Rowan, John
AU - Du, Andrew
AU - Lundgren, Erick J.
AU - Faith, J. Tyler
AU - Beaudrot, Lydia
AU - Campisano, Christopher J.
AU - Joordens, Josephine C.
AU - Lazagabaster, Ignacio A.
AU - Locke, Ellis M.
AU - Smail, Irene E.
AU - Reed, Kaye E.
AU - Kamilar, Jason M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2024.
PY - 2024/9
Y1 - 2024/9
N2 - Eastern Africa preserves the most complete record of human evolution anywhere in the world but we have little knowledge of how long-term biogeographic dynamics in the region influenced hominin diversity and distributions. Here, we use spatial beta diversity analyses of mammal fossil records from the East African Rift System to reveal long-term biotic homogenization (increasing compositional similarity of faunas) over the last 6 Myr. Late Miocene and Pliocene faunas (~6–3 million years ago (Ma)) were largely composed of endemic species, with the shift towards biotic homogenization after ~3 Ma being driven by the loss of endemic species across functional groups and a growing number of shared grazing species. This major biogeographic transition closely tracks the regional expansion of grass-dominated ecosystems. Although grazers exhibit low beta diversity in open environments of the Early Pleistocene, the high beta diversity of Mio-Pliocene browsers and frugivores occurred in the context of extensive woody vegetation. We identify other key aspects of the Late Cenozoic biogeographic development of eastern Africa, their likely drivers and place the hominin fossil record in this context. Because hominins were undoubtedly influenced by many of the same factors as other eastern African mammals, this provides a new perspective on the links between environmental and human evolutionary histories.
AB - Eastern Africa preserves the most complete record of human evolution anywhere in the world but we have little knowledge of how long-term biogeographic dynamics in the region influenced hominin diversity and distributions. Here, we use spatial beta diversity analyses of mammal fossil records from the East African Rift System to reveal long-term biotic homogenization (increasing compositional similarity of faunas) over the last 6 Myr. Late Miocene and Pliocene faunas (~6–3 million years ago (Ma)) were largely composed of endemic species, with the shift towards biotic homogenization after ~3 Ma being driven by the loss of endemic species across functional groups and a growing number of shared grazing species. This major biogeographic transition closely tracks the regional expansion of grass-dominated ecosystems. Although grazers exhibit low beta diversity in open environments of the Early Pleistocene, the high beta diversity of Mio-Pliocene browsers and frugivores occurred in the context of extensive woody vegetation. We identify other key aspects of the Late Cenozoic biogeographic development of eastern Africa, their likely drivers and place the hominin fossil record in this context. Because hominins were undoubtedly influenced by many of the same factors as other eastern African mammals, this provides a new perspective on the links between environmental and human evolutionary histories.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85198525352&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41559-024-02462-0
DO - 10.1038/s41559-024-02462-0
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 39009848
AN - SCOPUS:85198525352
SN - 2397-334X
VL - 8
SP - 1751
EP - 1759
JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution
JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution
IS - 9
ER -