The Climate Connection

by Renée Hetherington , Robert G. B. Reid

• ISBN13: 9780521197700
• ISBN10: 0521197708
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Highlights the influence of saltatory evolution and rapid climate change on human evolution, migration and behavioural change. Growing concern over the potential impacts of climate change on our future is clearly evident. In order to better understand our present circumstances and deal effectively with future climate change, society needs to become more informed about the historical connection between climate and humans. The authors' combined research in the fields of climate change, evolutionary biology, Earth sciences and human migration and behaviour complement each other, and have facilitated an innovative and integrated approach to the human evolution-climate connection. The Climate Connection provides an in-depth text linking 135,000 years of climate change with human evolution and implications for our future, for those working and interested in the field and those embarking on upper-level courses on this topic.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgements	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 1
The climate connection	p. 1
Earth's changing climate	p. 2
Climate and humans	p. 5
Climate and species dominance	p. 7
What can be learned from evolutionary history?	p. 9
Back to the future	p. 11
Early human history	p. 13
From ape to human: the emergence of hominins	p. 15
Introduction	p. 15
The emergence of anatomically 'modern' humans	p. 19
Conclusion	p. 37
Human behavioural evolution	p. 39
Introduction	p. 39
Interpreting behaviour from the archaeological record	p. 41
Early stone tool industries of the genus Homo	p. 46
The origins of human behaviour	p. 52
Language and foresight	p. 59
General intelligence or cognitive capacities	p. 62
The bigger picture	p. 67
Corollary on social stratification	p. 71
The migrations and diaspora of Homo	p. 79
Introduction	p. 79
Out of Africa - population expansions and bottlenecks	p. 80
The Middle East	p. 91
Europe	p. 95
Asia	p. 101
Australia and New Guinea	p. 116
The Americas	p. 120
Islands of the Pacific	p. 136
Concluding thoughts	p. 137
Climate during the last glacial cycle	p. 139
Climate change over the last 135 000 years	p. 141
Introduction	p. 141
Climate change forcing mechanisms	p. 141
Identifying climate change and its impacts	p. 152
Modelling with the UVic Earth system climate model	p. 155
Climate during the origin and dispersal of Homo sapiens	p. 157
Conclusion	p. 173
The effect of 135 000 years of changing climate on the global landscape	p. 175
Introduction	p. 175
Marine isotope stage 6 - the changing environment of Africa, the birthplace of Homo sapiens	p. 176
Marine isotope stage 5e - the Eemian interglacial	p. 177
Marine isotope stage 5d	p. 181
Marine isotope stage 5c	p. 185
Marine isotope stage 5b	p. 189
Marine isotope stage 5a	p. 193
Marine isotope stage 4	p. 194
Marine isotope stage 3	p. 195
Marine isotope stage 2 - the last glacial maximum	p. 199
The Holocene	p. 203
Conclusion	p. 206
The interaction between climate and humans	p. 209
The interaction between climate and humans	p. 211
Introduction	p. 211
Marine isotope stage 6 (150 000-135 000 years ago) - its impact on newly emerged modern humans	p. 212
The last glacial cycle and the migration of modern humans out of Africa	p. 213
The Holocene (11 650-AD 1800) - population expansion and the rise of agriculture and domestication	p. 229
Conclusion	p. 232
Climate and agriculture	p. 235
Introduction	p. 235
Animal and plant domestication	p. 236
Climate forcing mechanisms and key events and their influence on agriculture	p. 245
Case histories	p. 252
Conclusions	p. 265
Climate and our future	p. 269
What then of the effects of climate change?	p. 269
Modern humans' capacity to evolve and adjust	p. 281
The climate connection: human vulnerability to rapid climate change and adaptability	p. 287
Appendices: The biological background to the story of evolution	p. 303
Evolutionary theory	p. 305
Aspects of evolutionary theory	p. 305
Emergence theory	p. 314
Contrasts between the selectionist and emergentist views of evolution	p. 316
Developmental evolution	p. 319
Introduction	p. 319
Epigenesis and epigenetics	p. 319
Epigenetic modes	p. 320
Neoteny and foetalization in humans	p. 322
The role of neural crest and nerve cells	p. 323
Bipedalism	p. 324
Genetic assimilation	p. 325
The genome as a generator of evolutionary potential	p. 326
Humanness	p. 326
Epigenetic algorithms	p. 329
Environmental causes of epigenetic change	p. 330
Evolutionary changes through changes in methylation patterns	p. 330
Self-amplifying genomic changes as evolutionary processes	p. 331
Human adaptability: the physiological foundation	p. 335
Introduction	p. 335
Homeostasis	p. 336
The homeostasis of placental mammals	p. 337
How placental physiology relates to la vie libre	p. 339
How la vie libre relates to diversifying evolution in placental mammals	p. 340
The history of physiological evolution and environment	p. 342
Environment, diet and development	p. 346
The homeostasis paradox	p. 347
The primate lineage: neurophysiology; neocortical expansion; foetalization of hominids	p. 348
Comparison of the adaptability and adaptations of humans and other placentals: generalization vs. specialization	p. 350
Adaptability or variability?	p. 351
Summary of environmental impacts on humans - from molecules to mayhem	p. 353
References	p. 357
Index	p. 407
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