Simulating Human Origins and Evolution

258 Pages·2005·3.528 MB·English

by  K. P. Wessen

CambridgeStudiesinBiologicalandEvolutionaryAnthropology42
Simulating Human Origins and Evolution
Thedevelopmentofpopulationsovertimeand,onlongertimescales,
the evolution of species are both influenced by a complex of inter-
acting,underlyingprocesses.Computersimulationprovidesameans
of experimenting within an idealised framework to allow aspects of
these processes and their interactions to be isolated, controlled and
understood.
Inthisbook,computersimulationisusedtomodelmigration,extinc-
tion,fossilisation,interbreeding,selectionandnon-hereditaryeffects
in the context of human populations and the observed distribution
of fossil and current hominoid species. The simulations described
enable the visualisation and study of lineages, genetic diversity in
populations, character diversity across species and the accuracy of
reconstructions, allowing new insights into human evolution and
the origins of humankind for graduate students and researchers in
the fields of physical anthropology, human evolution and human
genetics.
Ken Wessen has Ph.D.s in both Theoretical Physics and Human
Evolutionandhasworkedasapost-doctoralresearcherinComputer
Visualisation. He currently works in quantitative finance, and is an
Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology at
the University of Western Australia.
Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology
Serieseditors
humanecology
C.G.NicholasMascie-Taylor,UniversityofCambridge
MichaelA.Little,StateUniversityofNewYork,Binghamton
genetics
KennethM.Weiss,PennsylvaniaStateUniversity
humanevolution
RobertA.Foley,UniversityofCambridge
NinaG.Jablonski,CaliforniaAcademyofScience
primatology
KarenB.Strier,UniversityofWisconsin,Madison
Alsoavailableintheseries
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22 ComparativePrimateSocioecologyP.C.Lee(ed.)0521593360
23 Patterns of Human Growth, second edition Barry Bogin 0 521 56438 7
(paperback)
24 MigrationandColonisationinHumanMicroevolutionAlanFix0521592062
25 HumanGrowthinthePastRobertD.Hoppa&CharlesM.FitzGerald(eds.)
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26 HumanPaleobiologyRobertB.Eckhardt0521451604
27 MountainGorillasMarthaM.Robbins,PascaleSicotte&KellyJ.Stewart(eds.)
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MariaC.Bortolini0521652758
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30 HumanBiologyofPastoralPopulationsWilliamR.Leonard&MichaelH.
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0521818478

Simulating Human
Origins and Evolution
K. P. WESSEN
UniversityofWesternAustralia
  
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,SãoPaulo
Cambridge University Press
TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridge,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521843997
© K. Wessen 2005
Thisbookisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof
relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace
withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublishedinprintformat 2005
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CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
sforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhisbook,anddoesnot
guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Eachchangeofmany-colouredlifehedrew
Exhaustedworlds,andthenimaginednew.
SamuelJohnson1709–84
ForCindy,JessamineandXanthe

Contents
Prefacepagexiii
1Introduction1
1.1Phylogeneticsandhumanorigins1
1.2Originofmodernhumans7
1.3Computermethodsinphylogenetics11
PartISimulatingspecies15
2Overview17
2.1Hominoids20
2.2Hominids22
3Simulationdesign26
3.1Phylogeneticreconstruction29
3.2Examplesimulationandreconstruction33
3.3Analysisandevaluation38
4Runningthesimulation42
4.1Asimpleexample42
4.2Migration46
4.3Advancedfeatures52
5Simulatingdiversity56
5.1Recentreductionindiversityprofiles57
5.2Recentmaximumofdiversityprofiles69
5.3Studyingparametersensitivity74
6Simulatingmigration84
6.1Speciesmigrationwithanamphoraprofile84
6.2Simulatinghominoidmigrations91
ix