ES1007 Week 10 Assignment: Climate Shocks

Group 5: Tan En Mei, Goh Min Hui Felicia, Mock Yuan Ning, Winona Wijaya
Q1: How have Homonins evolved through the last 6 million years?
Mock Yuan Ning, U1540480K
The term Homonins refers to modern humans and their extinct relatives.
Homonins

evolved

through

variability

selection,

starting

from

Australopithecus afarensis and eventually evolving to Homo sapiens, the

anatomically modern human. Research has shown that climate has been a
driving factor for the evolution of Homonins. From the dates, it can be seen
that Homonins evolved not all at once, but in bursts as the environment
shifted.
The first of the Homonins was Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis). Starting
around 3.9 million years ago, the species had survived in East Africa for 900
000 years, before going extinct between 2.9 and 2.4 million years ago.
Two other distinctive groups then appeared, Homo and Paranthropus. The
group Homo had modern features and developed the first crude stone tools.
The other group Paranthropus was more stoutly built, heavy-jawed and the
lineage eventually died out. Diet is a suggested reason for this as teeth
records indicate Homo had a flexible diet whereas Paranthropus had a
narrow diet.
Next, between 1.9 million and 1.6 million years ago, the species Homo
erectus evolved from the genus Homo. This species had a larger brain and a
taller skeleton, similar to modern humans. It improved use of tools and was
the first to leave Africa to populate Southeast Asia and Europe.
Good writing!

References

De Menocal, P. B. (2014). Climate shocks. Scientific American, 311, 48-53.

Q1: How have the hominins evolved through the last 6 million
years?
Winona Wijaya, U1540054G
The first hominins could be traced back to 3.9 million years ago when the
first Australopithecus afarensis appeared and roamed East Africa. This is
where the famous fossil, Lucy, came from. However, around 2.9 to 2.4 million
years ago (around the same time as the expansion of grasslands across East
Africa) this species became extinct and two physically distinct groups
appeared.
One group, a rather unsuccessful one, is what scientists had named the
Paranthropus. They were plump and heavy-jawed, and they lived in open
plains. By chemical analysis of the fossils of their teeth, it has been found
that they ate what was mostly available to them, C4 plants (grasses and
sedges), and much less of the C3 plants (shrubs and woody plants). The
other group is the first members of the Homo genus, with larger brains and
the usage of early stone tools. Their diet combined both C3 and C4 plants,
and it was hypothesised that this variability in their diet had a major
contribution towards their survival and evolution.
Around 1.9 to 1.6 million years ago, the Homo erectus came into being. Their
skeletons resemble closely to modern humans, and they are the first to leave
Africa and spread around Southeast Asia and Europe. Their tools included
hand-held axes with large blades, and their adaptations eventually reached
modern humans, Homo sapiens, into existence about 200,000 years ago.
Good and clear writing!

References
De Menocal, P. B. (2014). Climate shocks. Scientific American, 311, 48-53.

Q2: What can sediment studies tell us about the environmental and
climate change in Africa? Tan En Mei, U1540728D
Firstly, geologists studied sediments found on the seafloor in the Arabian
Sea. These sediments consist of mixtures of fine-white calcium carbonate
shells from ancient marine plankton and darker silty grains of dirt blown from
Africa by windy monsoons. Generally, drier and dustier times are indicated
by a darker and grittier mix, whereas a lighter mix reflects wetter and more
humid periods. From the alternating light and dark layers that repeat
approximately every three feet, geologists can tell that African climate was
continuously swinging between wetter and drier times, caused by precession
that occurs as a regular 23,000-year cycle.
Also, on the Mediterranean seafloor, black organic-rich sediments called
sapropels accumulated during wetter periods and whiter layers were laid
down during dry periods. Studying these seafloor sediments can also tell of
the African climate cycles.
Lastly, sediment studies can tell us about the vegetation history of Africa and
hence its climate. Researchers have discovered some time ago that C4
grasses that grow well in hot dry regions have a higher carbon 13/12 ratio
than C3 plants that grow in wetter climates (C3 and C4 refers to the
photosynthetic pathways). This carbon isotopic ratio is preserved in rocks
and soils and can also be obtained from the remains of waxy coatings on
plants that are resistant to degradation. These plant wax lipids can be found
amongst ocean sediments where it has been carried by winds into the ocean.
By looking at the carbon isotopic signature, the relative abundance of C3 and
C4 plants can be estimated and the climate hence deduced.
En Mei, very clear structure! Excellent writing!

References
De Menocal, P. B. (2014). Climate shocks. Scientific American, 311, 48-53.

Q2: What can sediment studies tell us about the environmental and
climate change in Africa? Goh Min Hui Felicia, U1540570C
Firstly, ocean sediments indicate that there were periodic changes in
monsoonal intensity, which were influenced by precession in cycles of 23 000
years. Monsoon winds blow dark, silty dust into the Arabian Sea, where it
accumulates on the abyssal plains. Such dark sediment dominates when
more dust is blown into the sediment during drier monsoons of cooler
periods. This happens when the Earths axis wobbles such that the aphelion,
the point in the Earths orbit where the earth is farthest from the sun, falls in
the Northern Hemisphere summer. Conversely, the calcium carbonate shells
of marine plankton form whiter sediment layers during wetter, warmer
monsoons.
Similarly, black, organic-rich sapropel sediments from dead grass and
trees accumulate in the Mediterranean Sea in wetter periods and alternate
with whiter layers that indicate drier monsoons.
Sediments also record the relative abundance of grasslands to trees,
and show the rapid expansion of grasslands between 2.8 to 1.8 million years
ago. Grasses, which are better adapted to drier climates by using the C4
photosynthetic pathway, have a higher

13

C:12C ratio than woody shrubs and

trees that utilize C3 photosynthesis which uses more water. The

13

C:12C ratio

is preserved in terrestrial soil and rocks. Degradation-resistant lipids that

constitute the wavy leaf coatings of plants also retain this isotopic signature,
which can be obtained when the lipids are extracted from the ocean
sediments where it accumulated accumulates after being blown into the
ocean.
Felicia, very good writing and structure! I like it!

References
De Menocal, P. B. (2014). Climate shocks. Scientific American, 311, 48-53.