Adaptability

The Origin of Human Adaptability

When, where, and how did human beings became so capable of adapting to many different types of environment? This is a major research pursuit of the Smithsonian's program in human origins. It represents an important unanswered question about human evolutionary history. According to our current understandings, the earliest human ancestors arose in the tropical latitudes of Africa; after several million years of species origins and extinctions, humans are today represented by a single species (us) spread all over the globe.

But what exactly is 'adaptability'?: An organism is adaptable if it can survive significant changes in its environment, spread to new habitats, and come up with novel solutions to its surroundings. All of these abilities are characteristic of human beings.

The larger question is, how does adaptability evolve?: Did basic human adaptations evolve primarily in one environment, such as the African savanna?
Or, did the instability of the surroundings - repeated shifts between moist and arid times, for example - make it advantageous, and even possible, for traits to evolve that served well when our ancestors encountered new habitats?

The NSF HOMINID Project

In 2002, the Human Origins Program received one of the largest awards in the study of human origins to explore the question of adaptability in human evolution. The name of the program that gave us the grant is Human Origins: Moving in New Directions (HOMINID), which is funded by the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences of the National Science Foundation. Here are examples of some of our research findings in 2004:

With thanks to the National Science Foundation's HOMINID program, our research continues to uncover new evidence about environmental change and human adaptability. Project researchers include:

Climate and ocean scientists who investigate African vegetation history, based on a nearly continuous record of plant molecules and dust deposited from the continent into the deep sea.

Experimental geneticists who investigate how nematode worms (as a model organism) respond genetically, reproductively, and behaviorally to natural selection under steady, progressively changing, and highly variable temperatures.

Geologists who investigate the ancient environments in which early humans lived, and figure out the age of the early human remains.

Paleontologists who investigate the adaptations, geographic spread, and evolutionary history of fossil mammals and other extinct species that lived along side early humans.

Paleoanthropologists who investigate the archeological and fossil evidence of human evolution, which is the basis for uncovering when, where, and how the roots of human adaptability emerged.

Additional project funding and support: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Natural Science Foundation of China, C.N.R.S. France, National Museums of Kenya, Smithsonian Institution, Columbia University, Rutgers University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and George Washington University.

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