An integrative analysis of the primate skeleton

Our understanding of human origins is primarily based on the analysis of fossilized skeletons, rather than genetic information. However, unlike the underlying genetic code, the skeleton changes substantially throughout life, and different parts of the skeleton are integrated with one another through varying genetic, developmental, and functional processes. This project will use state-of-the-art 3D scanning and statistical methods to assess the nature and extent of skeletal integration across primates in order to test how morphological diversity across primates came about. The results will provide information about the degree to which the human skeleton is unique or similar to other living primates. As such, this project advances our understanding of the human body and provides a roadmap for future researchers interested in reconstructing genetic relationships from fossils. The research advances the careers of several female scientists, including one researcher from a group underrepresented in STEM research, provides technical training for graduate and undergraduate students, and will result in an extensive database of virtual primate models that will be shared with the scientific community. In addition, active outreach programs through Buffalo's school system will promote K-12 science through engagement with virtual technology. Researchers often compartmentalize the primate skeleton, with cranial and postcranial elements often studied in isolation. This has led to the empirical dissociation of adaptive integrated systems, and a lack of understanding of how components of the skeleton co-vary. This project will collate a large 3D database of skeletal elements for 13 anthropoid taxa and construct covariance matrices reflecting functional, developmental, and anatomical modularity. Quantitative genetic analyses will be used to test the nature and extent of integration patterns across primates and assess which modules have been shaped by neutral versus non-neutral forces. The results will create a direct link between the pattern and magnitude of integration and the past forces that shaped primate skeletal diversity more broadly, thus providing future researchers with a better understanding of which traits best reflect neutral divergence, and which have been subject to adaptive forces. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.