Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons^™

Female Social Connectivity Through The Leadership And Movement Progression Of Tibetan Macaques At Mt. Huangshan, China, Gregory P. Fratellone

All Master's Theses

The present study investigates the leadership and progression of collective movements of Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) found in Mt. Huangshan, China. I gathered information on their movements and social networks through all-occurrence, focal and scan sampling. I hypothesize that high-ranking females lead more collective movements than males as they have highly structured social bonds. I also predict that movements weighted by female presence are more efficient as societies are matrilineally structured and females are more socially connected. There were a total of 128 successful collective movements recorded over a 2-month period. There was no significant effect of sex, …

A Comparison Of Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes) Responses To Caregiver Use Of Positive Reinforcement Training (Prt) And Species-Specific Behaviors (Ssb), Whitney D. Emge

All Master's Theses

The present study compared the effects of positive reinforcement training (PRT) and unstructured interactions (UI) on chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) behavior. In the PRT condition, a caregiver interacted with a chimpanzee to condition behaviors for 10 min. In the UI condition, a caregiver interacted without PRT for 10 min. Participants were five chimpanzees in a sanctuary setting. Chimpanzees were also videotaped for 10 min after trials (PTP) and for 10 min in a matched control (MC) period on a different day. From these videotapes experimenters coded chimpanzee behaviors and calculated durations in behavioral contexts. Chimpanzees spent a significantly higher …

Provisioning And Its Effects On The Social Interactions Of Tibetan Macaques (Macaca Thibetana) At Mt. Huangshan, China, Brianna I. Schnepel

All Master's Theses

The dispersal patterns of food resources has a significant effect on the composition of primate groups and social interactions within those groups. Humans often alter the dispersal of food. Non-humans often use affiliative behaviors to elicit tolerance or support from other group members. I investigated whether provisioned food resources alter the social interactions and group dynamics of Macaca thibetana. All-occurrence sampling and scan sampling were used for data recorded by camera traps. Trail-cameras were placed at six locations that contain natural and human food resources and recorded 60-second videos. Social behavior and proximity of the monkeys were recorded. I …

Multiple Stain Histology Of Skeletal Fractures: Healing And Microtaphonomy, John Wellington Powell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The forensic examination of wounds is one of the key elements of analysis performed by forensic anthropologists and forensic pathologists. Gross examination and histological analysis can be used to determine the timing of the wound and its cause. While forensic pathologists are trained to analyze hard and soft tissue wounds, forensic anthropologists, bioarchaeologists, and paleopathologists, focus on hard tissue. Forensic anthropologists have the added benefit of potentially working with residual soft tissue and would benefit from the incorporation of microscopy techniques that take advantage of the soft tissue to better understand perimortem events. Little research has been published that examines …

Geometric Morphometric Analysis Of Pan Frontal Bone Morphology, Allen J. Myhra

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This study employs geometric morphometric methods to investigate the morphology and shape change of the frontal bone for Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus. Unlike previous work on the topic, this research analyzed morphology and ontogenetic shape change in a single bone of the cranium, namely the frontal bone. Frontal bone shape was compared between juvenile Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus and the ontogeny of the bone was assessed in Pan paniscus infants and juveniles. Analyses were performed on frontal bone morphology with and without the browridge in order to assess the morphology of the frontal apart from influences …

Low Mineral Density Of A Weight-Bearing Bone Among Adult Women In A High Fertility Population, Jonathan Stieglitz, Bret Beheim, Benjamin C. Trumble, Felicia C. Madimenos, Hillard Kaplan, Michael Gurven

ESI Publications

Evolutionary theories of aging posit that greater reproductive effort causes somatic decline given a fundamental trade-off between investing energy in reproduction and repair. Few studies in high fertility human populations support this hypothesis, and problems of phenotypic correlation can obscure the expected trade-off between reproduction and somatic condition. This cross-sectional study investigates whether greater reproductive effort is associated with reduced calcaneal bone mineral density (BMD) among female Tsimane forager-farmers of lowland Bolivia. We also investigate whether female Tsimane BMD values are lower than sex- and age-matched US reference values, despite the fact that Tsimane engage in higher physical activity levels …

Framing A “Wicked” Debate: Subsistence, Nutrition, And Indigenous Rights Versus Deforestation, Air Pollution, And Climate Change, Cynthia Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

This presentation considers anthropogenic environmental change as a wicked problem in which multiple, divergent understandings of complex systems and changing conditions coexist. The stakes are high with this wicked problem for the whole Earth and all of humanity. Stakes are especially high in the tropical agropastoral communities whose resource management systems are the subject of much consternation and, at the same time, whose systems are incompletely known.

An Evaluation Of Metric Methods Of Race Differentiation In The Human Pelvic Girdle For The Application Of Expert Witness Testimony, Laura Natalie Yurka

Master's Theses

Research has shown that measurements from the pelvic bones and femur can be utilized for race estimation when the skull is absent or damaged. The literature reported levels up to 95% accuracy when utilizing discriminant function analysis to simultaneously classify race and sex. This research examined the previously reported methods of race estimation within the evidence standards for forensic science as well as current statistical standards. New metric measurements from the pelvis and femur were also proposed and tested to assess their utility as race indicators. Finally, this research addressed concerns that skeletal collections like the Robert J. Terry Skeletal …

One Big Puzzle, Two Thousand Tiny Pieces: An Analysis Of The Juvenile Remains From The Shady Grove Ossuary, Jaimie Arlene Ide

Master's Theses

This thesis is an inventory and analysis of the juvenile remains excavated in 2010 from a Middle Mississippian ossuary at the Shady Grove site (22QU525), located in the Mississippi Delta. This project presents a clear challenge given the commingled and incomplete nature of the sample, as well as the preservation biases associated with subadult material, but this research offers valuable insight into the demographic pattern of the larger population at the site, as well as the mortuary practices which created the ossuary at Shady Grove. A “bone-by-bone” inventory revealed the presence of 43 juvenile individuals between the ages of 0 …

Morphometric Assessment Of The Internal Auditory Canal For Sex Determination In Subadults Using Cone Beam Computed Tomography (Cbct), Saoly Benson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study reports on the use of three methods for sex determination in subadults using the petrous portion of the temporal bone. The purpose of this study was to validate and refine two previously published methods of sex determination for the internal auditory canal as well as to develop a novel method. The sample was comprised of 276 cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of a population of subadults age 6-24 (165 females, 111 males) divided into 5 age groups for analysis: Group 1 (age 6-10), Group 2 (age 11-13), Group 3 (age 14-16), Group 4 (age 17-19), and Group …

Minerals In The Foods Eaten By Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla Beringei), Emma C. Cancelliere, Nicole Deangelis, John Bosco Nkurunungi, David R. Raubenheimer, Jessica M. Rothman

Publications and Research

Minerals are critical to an individual’s health and fitness, and yet little is known about mineral nutrition and requirements in free-ranging primates. We estimated the mineral content of foods consumed by mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Mountain gorillas acquire the majority of their minerals from herbaceous leaves, which constitute the bulk of their diet. However, less commonly eaten foods were sometimes found to be higher in specific minerals, suggesting their potential importance. A principal component analysis demonstrated little correlation among minerals in food items, which further suggests that mountain gorillas might increase dietary …

Project Holly: Can Human-Based Behavioral Therapy Help A Chimpanzee?, Ellen Ingmanson

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

A Mediterranean Mosaic: The Archaeological Evidence For Ethnic Diversity At Pithekoussai, Rachel Dewan

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

In A Bind: Artificial Cranial Deformation In The Americas, Aaron Fehir

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Collapse Of An Ecological Network In Ancient Egypt, Justin Yeakel, Mathias Pires, Lars Rudolf, Nathaniel Dominy

Dartmouth Scholarship

The dynamics of ecosystem collapse are fundamental to determining how and why biological communities change through time, as well as the potential effects of extinctions on ecosystems. Here, we integrate depictions of mammals from Egyptian antiquity with direct lines of paleontological and archeological evidence to infer local extinctions and community dynamics over a 6,000-y span. The unprecedented temporal resolution of this dataset enables examination of how the tandem effects of human population growth and climate change can disrupt mammalian communities. We show that the extinctions of mammals in Egypt were nonrandom and that destabilizing changes in community composition coincided with …

Kaelin Rapport - Histological Techniques For The Sex Determination Of Skeletonized Human Remains, Kaelin Rapport

Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program 2014

Determining the sex of skeletons is problematic in forensic and bio-archaeological research. Past studies demonstrate that bone cells can sometimes contain preserved sex chromosomal material in ancient samples. The sex chromosomes in skeletal remains may allow determination of sex in non-adults. The problem is explored by making 20μ thin sections stained with hematoxylin eosin. The dye highlights inactive X chromosomes (Barr Bodies) of females. The presence of the Barr Body is an indicator of female with an accuracy of greater than 99.9. This approach to identification of sex in unknown skeletons has been demonstrated with remains of individuals deceased as …

Genetics Of The Pig Tapeworm In Madagascar Reveal A History Of Human Dispersal And Colonization, Tetsuya Yanagida, Jean-François Carod, Yasuhito Sako, Minoru Nakao, Eric P. Hoberg, Akira Ito

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

An intricate history of human dispersal and geographic colonization has strongly affected the distribution of human pathogens. The pig tapeworm Taenia solium occurs throughout the world as the causative agent of cysticercosis, one of the most serious neglected tropical diseases. Discrete genetic lineages of T. solium in Asia and Africa/Latin America are geographically disjunct; only in Madagascar are they sympatric. Linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence has indicated that the people in Madagascar have mixed ancestry from Island Southeast Asia and East Africa. Hence, anthropogenic introduction of the tapeworm from Southeast Asia and Africa had been postulated. This study shows that …

The Development And Function Of The Nasopharynx And Its Role In The Evolution Of Primate Respiratory Abilities, Anthony Santino Pagano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The nasopharynx is a centrally located region of the upper respiratory tract (URT) integral to several physiological functions. However, few have focused on this area within the context of human evolution. This study investigated osseous morphology, soft tissue histology, development, and evolutionary change of the nasopharynx. Multimodal analyses were performed:

Analysis 1: This study tested hypotheses on the morphological relationships of the osseous nasopharyngeal boundaries with the splanchnocranium and basicranium among dry crania representing humans and non-human primates using 3D geometric morphometrics (3D-GM). Results showed that humans, the most orthognathic group, exhibited the widest nasopharynges. Over human development, the nasopharynx …

"Till Death Us Do Part: The Evolution Of Monogamy, Kirsten Glaeser

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

With statistics indicating that one out of every two marriages in the United States ends in a divorce, the validity of monogamous marriages has come under fire. Are humans truly capable of maintaining monogamous marriages or are they constraining their sexuality by doing so? The research entails two different perspectives while analyzing human monogamy; monogamy as a mating pattern and monogamy as a marriage pattern. The reason being that monogamy is solely not an evolved phenomenon but also a socialized one throughout most cultures. While analyzing monogamy as a mating pattern, several occurrences throughout our evolution allowed humans the ability …

Early Life Environment, Fertility And Age Of Menarche: A Test Of Life History Predictions Using A Longitudinal Assessment Of Adversity Perception And Economic Status, Dorsa Amir, Matthew R. Jordan, Richard G. Bribiescas

Yale Day of Data

Perceptions of early life environmental adversity can affect the timing of life history transitions and investment in reproductive effort. These effects are well documented in non-human organisms, but have been challenging to test in humans. Here we present evidence of the effects of variables associated with extrinsic mortality and morbidity on reproductive effort in a contemporary American population. Using a longitudinal database that sampled participants (N ≥ 1,579) at four points during adolescence and early adulthood, variables reflective of perceptions of adversity and risk were significantly associated with age of menarche and early adult fertility. While other factors related to …