A Report on the Heritability of Some Cranial Measurements and Non-Metric Traits

Sjøvold, Torstein

doi:10.1007/978-94-009-6357-3_14

Cited by 114 publications

(122 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Although the genetic line of least evolutionary resistance (gmax), computed as the first principal component of the G matrix of additive genetic variances and covariances among the eight cephalometric traits is unavailable for the samples studied here, we have used an estimate based on the pedigreedstructured skull collection from Hallstat (Austria) studied by Martínez-Abadías et al (18). This collection furnishes a unique chance to compute quantitative genetic parameters for skull shape because skulls were individually identified and church records could be used to reconstruct genealogical relationships (18,30), providing a crucial advantage over previous studies of human evolution that have used phenotypic covariance as a proxy for genetic data.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural diversification promotes rapid phenotypic evolution in Xavánte Indians

Hünemeier

Gómez-Valdés

Ballesteros-Romero

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Shifts in social structure and cultural practices can potentially promote unusual combinations of allele frequencies that drive the evolution of genetic and phenotypic novelties during human evolution. These cultural practices act in combination with geographical and linguistic barriers and can promote faster evolutionary changes shaped by gene-culture interactions. However, specific cases indicative of this interaction are scarce. Here we show that quantitative genetic parameters obtained from cephalometric data taken on 1,203 individuals analyzed in combination with genetic, climatic, social, and life-history data belonging to six South Amerindian populations are compatible with a scenario of rapid genetic and phenotypic evolution, probably mediated by cultural shifts. We found that the Xavánte experienced a remarkable pace of evolution: the rate of morphological change is far greater than expected for its time of split from their sister group, the Kayapó, which occurred around 1,500 y ago. We also suggest that this rapid differentiation was possible because of strong social-organization differences. Our results demonstrate how human groups deriving from a recent common ancestor can experience variable paces of phenotypic divergence, probably as a response to different cultural or social determinants. We suggest that assembling composite databases involving cultural and biological data will be of key importance to unravel cases of evolution modulated by the cultural environment. cultural evolution | morphology | mtDNA | multiple factor analysis | Amerindians C lassic hypotheses about modern human evolution frequently assume that the evolutionary forces acting on the populations are triggered mainly by changes in the external (climatic, geographic, topological) environment. However, recent anthropological studies suggest that shifts in cultural practices can potentially modify environmental and behavioral conditions, thus promoting faster evolutionary rates shaped by gene-culture interactions (1-5). Because humans have lived in small aggregates in most of their evolutionary history, studying the influence of cultural practices on the demographic and genetic parameters of small groups can shed more light on modeling the effect of culture on biological evolution. These cultural practices act in combination with geographical and linguistic barriers and can promote faster evolutionary changes shaped by gene-culture interactions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural diversification promotes rapid phenotypic evolution in Xavánte Indians

Hünemeier

Gómez-Valdés

Ballesteros-Romero

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Only a few previous studies have reported the heritability estimates of nonmetric cranial traits based on human family studies, or human or other primate skeletons (Saunders and Popovich, 1978;Cheverud and Buikstra, 1981a, b;Sjøvold, 1984;Mouri, 1997;Velemínský and Dobisíková, 2005). Cheverud and Buikstra (1981a, b) reported the heritability of nonmetric cranial traits in rhesus macaques.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mean heritability rate of the nonmetric cranial traits used in their study was c. 0.64 (ranging from 0.48 to 0.77). Sjøvold (1984), using the human skull collection from Hallstatt village in Austria, estimated the heritability of nonmetric cranial traits to be approximately 0.30 (from 0.10 to 0.56). Other studies also showed that the heritability rate of nonmetric cranial traits is lower than that of craniometric traits (Saunders, 1989).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonmetric cranial variation in human skeletal remains associated with Okhotsk culture

Komesu

Hanihara

Amano

et al. 2008

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Population affinities and biological variation in human skeletal series associated with the Okhotsk culture from Hokkaido and Sakhalin Islands from the 5th to 12th centuries AD are investigated using 19 nonmetric cranial traits. The Okhotsk crania have a higher frequency of the supraorbital foramen than the Hokkaido Ainu and Jomon, while the frequency of the transverse zygomatic suture vestige in the Okhotsk is as high as in the Jomon. The mean measure of divergence between the northern and eastern Okhotsk cranial assemblages is small and insignificant. The method of Relethford and Blangero [Relethford J.H. and Blangero J. (1990) Human Biology, 62: 5-25] suggests that the eastern Okhotsk had a larger Rii value (distance from the centroid) and a lower observed variation than the northern Okhotsk, indicating that the eastern Okhotsk lost phenotypic variability. These results further reaffirm the affinity between the Okhotsk skeletal series and Northeast Asian series such as the Neolithic Baikalian and Amur. Finally, the results of analyses of nonmetric cranial variation demonstrate a close relationship between the Okhotsk, Ainu, and Jomon series that suggests that the Jomon and Ainu were closer to the Okhotsk than to other Northeast Asian series prior to any admixture.

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“…Various studies have published the heritability estimates of craniometric traits (Sjøvold, 1984;Devor, 1987;Sparks and Jantz, 2002). According to Relethford and Harpending (1994), heritabilities for craniometric traits are fairly stable across populations, and an average estimation of h 2 = 0.55 that is based on Devor's study (1987) can be used.…”

Section: Statistical Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

An alternative view of the peopling of South America: Lagoa Santa in craniometric perspective

Seguchi

McKeown

Schmidt

et al. 2011

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In this study, we compare the craniofacial morphology of four Sumidouro skulls and one Lund skull of paleo South Americans from Lagoa Santa, Brazil, with worldwide prehistoric and recent human craniofacial metric data, and suggest an alternative view of the migration history of early South America. Affiliations of samples and individuals were examined by the principal coordinate plot generated by Relethford and Blangero's R-matrix method, the neighbor-joining method based on genetic distance generated from the same R-matrix, and Mahalanobis distances and typicality probabilities. For these analyses, we examined certain variables claimed to have been influenced by the environment, such as maximum cranial length and maximum cranial breadth. Although the number of craniometric variables seems to influence the results of the analysis, it appeared to not obscure the ancestral and descendant relationships and regional kin relationships greatly in the instance of this study. Using Howells' worldwide comparative dataset but without the Jomon sample, previous research had suggested that Brazilian Paleoamericans, the Lagoa Santa, were probably closely related to Australian Aborigines and Africans as opposed to Native Americans and Northeast Asians. On the other hand, using multivariate statistics, our results show that Lagoa Santa individuals exhibit stronger morphological affinities with the prehistoric Jomon of Japan, archaic Americans of Indian Knoll Kentucky, Windover Florida, and Tennessee, and recent Tierra del Fuegans of South America, than with the Melanesians and Australians. Moreover, Jomon, Lagoa Santa, and archaic North Americans all display close relationships and ties to each other. This suggests that the early inhabitants of South America were probably not related to Australo-Melanesians, but rather to the Late Pleistocene descendants of Northeast Asians such as the Jomon. Also, they are related to the archaic North American populations and recent Central and South Americans.

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A Report on the Heritability of Some Cranial Measurements and Non-Metric Traits

Cited by 114 publications

References 16 publications

Cultural diversification promotes rapid phenotypic evolution in Xavánte Indians

Cultural diversification promotes rapid phenotypic evolution in Xavánte Indians

Nonmetric cranial variation in human skeletal remains associated with Okhotsk culture

An alternative view of the peopling of South America: Lagoa Santa in craniometric perspective

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