Kanapoi revisited: Paleoecological and biogeographical inferences from the fossil fish.

Fish fossils were recovered from three different depositional contexts at the Pliocene Kanapoi site to: 1) test the assumption that habitat and ecology of modern fish taxa can predict habitat and ecology of fossil taxa; 2) reconstruct the lake and river environments in the Kanapoi Formation, with reference to fish fossils from the nearby Lothagam site deposits; and 3) investigate biogeographical inferences from the fossils. We compare the Kanapoi fish taxa and their depositional environments with the taxa and environments in modern Lake Turkana, and with another Plio-Pleistocene fauna from the eastern Turkana Basin. Taphonomic caveats are discussed. Our results support the use of ecological preferences of modern fish to predict past preferences. Our analysis of the Kanapoi fossils also indicates that the Pliocene Lonyumun Lake had a diverse fauna, with an unusual mix of taxa compared to the modern lake. The presence of possibly endemic species in the Pliocene lake may additionally represent a period of isolation during this epoch. Few fish fossils were recovered in the deposits of the ancestral Kerio River, a primary affluent of Lonyumun Lake then as now, but those present indicate a different ecology than that interpreted for the modern lake. Previously unknown fish taxa which enter the lake during the Pliocene suggest the existence of a connection between the Nile River and the Turkana Basin, which may have been viable for other vertebrates, including hominins.

Arrival order and release from competition does not explain why haplochromine cichlids radiated in Lake Victoria.

The frequent occurrence of adaptive radiations on oceanic islands and in lakes is often attributed to ecological opportunity resulting from release from competition where arrival order among lineages predicts which lineage radiates. This priority effect occurs when the lineage that arrives first expands its niche breadth and diversifies into a set of ecological specialists with associated monopolization of the resources. Later-arriving species do not experience ecological opportunity and do not radiate. While theoretical support and evidence from microbial experiments for priority effects are strong, empirical evidence in nature is difficult to obtain. Lake Victoria (LV) is home to an exceptional adaptive radiation of haplochromine cichlid fishes, where 20 trophic guilds and several hundred species emerged in just 15 000 years, the age of the modern lake that was preceded by a complete desiccation lasting several thousand years. However, while about 50 other lineages of teleost fish also have established populations in the lake, none of them has produced more than two species and most of them did not speciate at all. Here, we test if the ancestors of the haplochromine radiation indeed arrived prior to the most competent potential competitors, 'tilapias' and cyprinids, both of which have made rapid radiations in other African lakes. We assess LV sediment core intervals from just before the desiccation and just after refilling for the presence of fossil fish teeth. We show that all three lineages were present when modern LV began to fill with water. We conclude that the haplochromines' extraordinary radiation unfolded in the presence of potentially competing lineages and cannot be attributed to a simple priority effect.

Environmental change and hominin exploitation of C4-based resources in wetland/savanna mosaics.

Eastern and southern Africa experienced ongoing climatic and tectonic instability in the Plio-Pleistocene, alongside declining forests and expanding grasslands. Most known hominin genera (Australopithecus spp., Kenyanthropus, Paranthropus spp., Homo spp.) appear roughly between 4.2 and 1.8 Ma (millions of years ago). Explanations for these speciation events have focused on adaptations to environmental change, particularly in terrestrial biomes. However, the links between environmental change and hominin adaptations have not always been clear. Often overlooked is that Plio-Pleistocene vegetation included not just terrestrial environments, but a large component of edaphic (wet) C4 grasses and sedges. In this paper it is suggested that in response to environmental fluctuations, hominins engaged in conservative long-term ecological and dietary patterns, based on predictable C4/C3 wetland and terrestrial resources. Data are presented from six hominin locales, which demonstrate reliance on plant-based resources (sedges, grasses, and other vegetation) in C4-inclusive wetland/savanna mosaics. After roughly 2.4 Ma, severe climate variability is associated with early Homo and perhaps Paranthropus boisei broadening their diet to familiar but less preferred foods: vertebrates and invertebrates. These foods consistently provided early Homo with essential nutrients, which reduced selection pressures and allowed for increases in brain size. After 1.65 Ma, a 20% increase in the C4 dietary component of Homo occurs alongside increased relative brain size. P. boisei also increases its C4 dietary component by 15% after 1.65 Ma. These increases imply that both taxa continued to broaden their diet within the C4-based wetlands/savanna biome, with Homo putting a greater emphasis on mammals.

The geological, isotopic, botanical, invertebrate, and lower vertebrate surroundings of Ardipithecus ramidus.

Sediments containing Ardipithecus ramidus were deposited 4.4 million years ago on an alluvial floodplain in Ethiopia's western Afar rift. The Lower Aramis Member hominid-bearing unit, now exposed across a > 9-kilometer structural arc, is sandwiched between two volcanic tuffs that have nearly identical 40Ar/39Ar ages. Geological data presented here, along with floral, invertebrate, and vertebrate paleontological and taphonomic evidence associated with the hominids, suggest that they occupied a wooded biotope over the western three-fourths of the paleotransect. Phytoliths and oxygen and carbon stable isotopes of pedogenic carbonates provide evidence of humid cool woodlands with a grassy substrate.