Understanding the evolution of any set of living creatures is a complex task for scientists and theories and approaches that may differ over time may change the fossil record. Carrie S. Mongle is a paleoanthropologist and co-author of the paper. A recent paper published in Nature Ecology & Evolution discusses the evolutionary past of ancient hominins, which include humans and our fossil ancestors. Evolutionary modelclusions are only as good as the data upon which they are based.
In "Modelling hominin evolution requires accurate hominin data," the authors develop a response to a previous research paper. The team was able to prove that many of the dates from the study were incorrect.
"It has become increasingly common in our field for researchers to propose a 'new and exciting' synthesis of evolutionary events that a group of scientists think overturns our understanding of human evolution," says Mongle. The paper was written to draw attention to the issue that we can't make major claims based on incomplete data from the fossil record and literature. For future studies, we offer a carefully constrainedgeochronological dataset.
The estimated timing of species divergences differed by as much as 300,000 years when the original study was re-analyzed. Evolutionary transitions are often correlated with ancient environments and climate change. Scientists' interpretations of the evolutionary drivers that made us human can be changed when estimates are off.
Evolutionary scientists should develop future total evidence studies if they want to study human evolution. It is critical to recognize that no algorithm is a replacement for careful comparative anatomy and meticulously constrained geochronology when it comes to interpreting evolutionary trends from the fossil record, according to their conclusion.
More information: Carrie S. Mongle et al, Modelling hominin evolution requires accurate hominin data, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01791-2 Journal information: Nature Ecology & Evolution
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