The relationship between climate and human evolution is complex, and the causal
mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we review and synthesize what is currently known …

Present-day African ecosystems serve as referential models for conceptualizing the
environmental context of early hominin evolution, but the degree to which modern …

Environmental stress on primate populations can take many forms. Abiotic factors, such as
temperature and precipitation, may directly influence the behavior of primates owing to …

It has long been proposed that pre-modern hominin impacts drove extinctions and shaped
the evolutionary history of Africa's exceptionally diverse large mammal communities, but this …

Expanding grassy ecosystems through the late Cenozoic may have driven ecological and
evolutionary change in hominins and other African mammals. However, we lack a …

Aim Historical climate variations, current climate and human impacts are known to influence
current species richness, but their effects on phylogenetic and trait diversity have been …

Sweating is an unusual thermoregulatory strategy for most mammals, yet is critical for
humans. This trait is commonly hypothesized to result from human ancestors moving from a …

Studies of the factors governing global patterns of biodiversity are key to predicting
community responses to ongoing and future abiotic and biotic changes. Although most …

Eight years of excavation work by the Olduvai Geochronology and Archaeology Project
(OGAP) has produced a rich vertebrate fauna from several sites within Bed II, Olduvai Gorge …

Contemporary biodiversity patterns are shaped by not only modern climate but also factors
such as past climate fluctuations. Investigating the relative degree of paleoclimate legacy …