Evolution: an international research seminar in eastern Africa

(2015-2016)

1^ère séance / 1^st session: The extinction of great apes in Eurasia: environmental context revealed by ungulate teeth, par/by Gildas MERCERON

Jeudi 12 novembre 2015 (16-17h30) / Thursday November 12^th 2015 (4:00 PM-5:30 PM). Lieu / Venue: Auditorium of the National Museum of Ethiopia

Organisation: CFEE & Authority for Research and Conservation of the Cultural Heritage (Heritage Collection & Laboratory Service Directorate, Heritage Training Unit).

Prior to the radiation of hominines that took place in Africa, the Eurasian continent was home to a radiation of great apes during the Miocene. All of these hominids went extinct at the end of the Miocene (between 9 Ma and 7 Ma), at least in western Eurasia. Gildas Merceron investigates the potential changes in climate and vegetation at both continental and local scales contemporaneous to this extinction. This presentation will depict how the dental remains of the antelopes, deers, and horses, which lived before and after the extinction of European great apes, can be used to track these changes. The past vegetation and its changes through time and space are explored using a combination of carbon stable isotope analyses on tooth enamel and dental microwear analysis. These two approaches decipher the chemical and physical properties of the plants ingested by these ungulates. Besides, by measuring the oxygen isotope compositions in tooth enamel, some aspects of the climatic conditions, especially seasonality, can be pictured before and after the extinction of great apes in Europe.

Gildas Merceron est paléontologue, spécialiste de la paléoécologie, chargé de recherche au CNRS au sein de l’Institut de Paléoprimatologie, Paléontologie Humaine : Evolution et Paléoenvironnements (IPHEP, UMR 7262, CNRS & Université de Poitiers, France).

Gildas Merceron is a paleontologist specialized in paleocology, researcher of the French National Center for Scientific Research within the Institute of Paleoprimatology, Human Paleontology: Evolution and Paleoenvironments (IPHEP, UMR 7262, CNRS & University of Poitiers, France).