Genomic and Climatic Effects on Human Crania from South America: A Comparative Microevolutionary Approach
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Cranial morphology has been widely used to estimate phylogenetic relationships among and between populations.When compared against genetic data, however, discrepancies arise in terms of population affinity and effects of microevolutionary processes.These discrepancies are particularly apparent in studies of the human dispersion to the New World.Despite the apparent discrepancies, research has thus far been limited in scope when analyzing the relationship between the cranial morphology and genetic markers.This dissertation aimed to fill this void in research by providing a necessary broad comparative approach, incorporating 3D morphological and climate data, mtDNA, and Y-chromosome DNA from South America.The combination of these data types allows for a more complete comparative analysis of microevolutionary processes.Correlations between these different data types allow for the assessment their relatedness, while quantitatively testing microevolutionary models permit determining the congruence of these different data types.I asked the following research questions: 1) how consistent are the patterns of population affinity when comparing different regions of the crania to each type of DNA for populations in South America?2) If they are not consistent, why not?How are different evolutionary forces affecting the affinities between them?Collectively, both the cranial and genetic data demonstrated patterns of isolation-by-distance when viewed from a continent-wide scale.However, once the continent was broken into different eco-geographic regions, differing patterns emerged.The patterns seen at this regional scale were not the same between the cranial and genetic data, just as their correlations to different climate variables were different.These results demonstrate that cranial morphology, mtDNA, and Y-chromosome DNA are affected by climate and geography to different extents.iii Dedication To my parents, who always encouraged me to follow my own path in life.Thank you
Author: Herrera, Brianne
Institution: The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Ohio State University
OpenAlex ID: W7038028532