Rights, interests and expectations: Indigenous perspectives on unrestricted access to genomic data.

Addressing Indigenous rights and interests in genetic resources has become increasingly challenging in an open science environment that promotes unrestricted access to genomic data. Although Indigenous experiences with genetic research have been shaped by a series of negative interactions, there is increasing recognition that equitable benefits can only be realized through greater participation of Indigenous communities. Issues of trust, accountability and equity underpin Indigenous critiques of genetic research and the sharing of genomic data. This Perspectives article highlights identified issues for Indigenous communities around the sharing of genomic data and suggests principles and actions that genomic researchers can adopt to recognize community rights and interests in data.

The population history of northeastern Siberia since the Pleistocene.

Northeastern Siberia has been inhabited by humans for more than 40,000 years but its deep population history remains poorly understood. Here we investigate the late Pleistocene population history of northeastern Siberia through analyses of 34 newly recovered ancient genomes that date to between 31,000 and 600 years ago. We document complex population dynamics during this period, including at least three major migration events: an initial peopling by a previously unknown Palaeolithic population of 'Ancient North Siberians' who are distantly related to early West Eurasian hunter-gatherers; the arrival of East Asian-related peoples, which gave rise to 'Ancient Palaeo-Siberians' who are closely related to contemporary communities from far-northeastern Siberia (such as the Koryaks), as well as Native Americans; and a Holocene migration of other East Asian-related peoples, who we name 'Neo-Siberians', and from whom many contemporary Siberians are descended. Each of these population expansions largely replaced the earlier inhabitants, and ultimately generated the mosaic genetic make-up of contemporary peoples who inhabit a vast area across northern Eurasia and the Americas.

Ancient and modern genomics of the Ohlone Indigenous population of California.

SignificanceCalifornia supports a high cultural and linguistic diversity of Indigenous peoples. In a partnership of researchers with the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, we studied genomes of eight present-day tribal members and 12 ancient individuals from two archaeological sites in the San Francisco Bay Area, spanning ∼2,000 y. We find that compared to genomes of Indigenous individuals from throughout the Americas, the 12 ancient individuals are most genetically similar to ancient individuals from Southern California, and that despite spanning a large time period, they share distinctive ancestry. This ancestry is also shared with present-day tribal members, providing evidence of genetic continuity between past and present Indigenous individuals in the region, in contrast to some popular reconstructions based on archaeological and linguistic information.

Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals first founding population of Native Americans.

Despite broad agreement that the Americas were initially populated via Beringia, the land bridge that connected far northeast Asia with northwestern North America during the Pleistocene epoch, when and how the peopling of the Americas occurred remains unresolved. Analyses of human remains from Late Pleistocene Alaska are important to resolving the timing and dispersal of these populations. The remains of two infants were recovered at Upward Sun River (USR), and have been dated to around 11.5 thousand years ago (ka). Here, by sequencing the USR1 genome to an average coverage of approximately 17 times, we show that USR1 is most closely related to Native Americans, but falls basal to all previously sequenced contemporary and ancient Native Americans. As such, USR1 represents a distinct Ancient Beringian population. Using demographic modelling, we infer that the Ancient Beringian population and ancestors of other Native Americans descended from a single founding population that initially split from East Asians around 36 ± 1.5 ka, with gene flow persisting until around 25 ± 1.1 ka. Gene flow from ancient north Eurasians into all Native Americans took place 25-20 ka, with Ancient Beringians branching off around 22-18.1 ka. Our findings support a long-term genetic structure in ancestral Native Americans, consistent with the Beringian 'standstill model'. We show that the basal northern and southern Native American branches, to which all other Native Americans belong, diverged around 17.5-14.6 ka, and that this probably occurred south of the North American ice sheets. We also show that after 11.5 ka, some of the northern Native American populations received gene flow from a Siberian population most closely related to Koryaks, but not Palaeo-Eskimos, Inuits or Kets, and that Native American gene flow into Inuits was through northern and not southern Native American groups. Our findings further suggest that the far-northern North American presence of northern Native Americans is from a back migration that replaced or absorbed the initial founding population of Ancient Beringians.

Dog domestication and the dual dispersal of people and dogs into the Americas.

Advances in the isolation and sequencing of ancient DNA have begun to reveal the population histories of both people and dogs. Over the last 10,000 y, the genetic signatures of ancient dog remains have been linked with known human dispersals in regions such as the Arctic and the remote Pacific. It is suspected, however, that this relationship has a much deeper antiquity, and that the tandem movement of people and dogs may have begun soon after the domestication of the dog from a gray wolf ancestor in the late Pleistocene. Here, by comparing population genetic results of humans and dogs from Siberia, Beringia, and North America, we show that there is a close correlation in the movement and divergences of their respective lineages. This evidence places constraints on when and where dog domestication took place. Most significantly, it suggests that dogs were domesticated in Siberia by ∼23,000 y ago, possibly while both people and wolves were isolated during the harsh climate of the Last Glacial Maximum. Dogs then accompanied the first people into the Americas and traveled with them as humans rapidly dispersed into the continent beginning ∼15,000 y ago.

Evolutionary and phylogenetic insights from a nuclear genome sequence of the extinct, giant, "subfossil" koala lemur Megaladapis edwardsi.

No endemic Madagascar animal with body mass >10 kg survived a relatively recent wave of extinction on the island. From morphological and isotopic analyses of skeletal "subfossil" remains we can reconstruct some of the biology and behavioral ecology of giant lemurs (primates; up to ∼160 kg) and other extraordinary Malagasy megafauna that survived into the past millennium. Yet, much about the evolutionary biology of these now-extinct species remains unknown, along with persistent phylogenetic uncertainty in some cases. Thankfully, despite the challenges of DNA preservation in tropical and subtropical environments, technical advances have enabled the recovery of ancient DNA from some Malagasy subfossil specimens. Here, we present a nuclear genome sequence (∼2× coverage) for one of the largest extinct lemurs, the koala lemur Megaladapis edwardsi (∼85 kg). To support the testing of key phylogenetic and evolutionary hypotheses, we also generated high-coverage nuclear genomes for two extant lemurs, Eulemur rufifrons and Lepilemur mustelinus, and we aligned these sequences with previously published genomes for three other extant lemurs and 47 nonlemur vertebrates. Our phylogenetic results confirm that Megaladapis is most closely related to the extant Lemuridae (typified in our analysis by E. rufifrons) to the exclusion of L. mustelinus, which contradicts morphology-based phylogenies. Our evolutionary analyses identified significant convergent evolution between M. edwardsi and an extant folivore (a colobine monkey) and an herbivore (horse) in genes encoding proteins that function in plant toxin biodegradation and nutrient absorption. These results suggest that koala lemurs were highly adapted to a leaf-based diet, which may also explain their convergent craniodental morphology with the small-bodied folivore Lepilemur.

Association between gene methylation and experiences of historical trauma in Alaska Native peoples.

BACKGROUND: Historical trauma experienced by Indigenous peoples of North America is correlated with health disparities and is hypothesized to be associated with DNA methylation. Massive group traumas such as genocide, loss of land and foodways, and forced conversion to Western lifeways may be embodied and affect individuals, families, communities, cultures, and health. This study approaches research with Alaska Native people using a community-engaged approach designed to create mutually-beneficial partnerships, including intentional relationship development, capacity building, and sample and data care. METHODS: A total of 117 Alaska Native individuals from two regions of Alaska joined the research study. Participants completed surveys on cultural identification, historical trauma (historical loss scale and historical loss associated symptoms scale), and general wellbeing. Participants provided a blood sample which was used to assess DNA methylation with the Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC array. RESULTS: We report an association between historical loss associated symptoms and DNA methylation at five CpG sites, evidencing the embodiment of historical trauma. We further report an association between cultural identification and general wellbeing, complementing evidence from oral narratives and additional studies that multiple aspects of cultural connection may buffer the effects of and/or aid in the healing process from historical trauma. CONCLUSION: A community-engaged approach emphasizes balanced partnerships between communities and researchers. Here, this approach helps better understand embodiment of historical trauma in Alaska Native peoples. This analysis reveals links between the historical trauma response and DNA methylation. Indigenous communities have been stigmatized for public health issues instead caused by systemic inequalities, social disparities, and discrimination, and we argue that the social determinants of health model in Alaska Native peoples must include the vast impact of historical trauma and ongoing colonial violence.

Numt Parser: Automated identification and removal of nuclear mitochondrial pseudogenes (numts) for accurate mitochondrial genome reconstruction in Panthera.

Nuclear mitochondrial pseudogenes (numts) may hinder the reconstruction of mtDNA genomes and affect the reliability of mtDNA datasets for phylogenetic and population genetic comparisons. Here, we present the program Numt Parser, which allows for the identification of DNA sequences that likely originate from numt pseudogene DNA. Sequencing reads are classified as originating from either numt or true cytoplasmic mitochondrial (cymt) DNA by direct comparison against cymt and numt reference sequences. Classified reads can then be parsed into cymt or numt datasets. We tested this program using whole genome shotgun-sequenced data from 2 ancient Cape lions (Panthera leo), because mtDNA is often the marker of choice for ancient DNA studies and the genus Panthera is known to have numt pseudogenes. Numt Parser decreased sequence disagreements that were likely due to numt pseudogene contamination and equalized read coverage across the mitogenome by removing reads that likely originated from numts. We compared the efficacy of Numt Parser to 2 other bioinformatic approaches that can be used to account for numt contamination. We found that Numt Parser outperformed approaches that rely only on read alignment or Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) properties, and was effective at identifying sequences that likely originated from numts while having minimal impacts on the recovery of cymt reads. Numt Parser therefore improves the reconstruction of true mitogenomes, allowing for more accurate and robust biological inferences.

Patterns of Genetic Coding Variation in a Native American Population before and after European Contact.

The effects of European colonization on the genomes of Native Americans may have produced excesses of potentially deleterious features, mainly due to the severe reductions in population size and corresponding losses of genetic diversity. This assumption, however, neither considers actual genomic patterns that existed before colonization nor does it adequately capture the effects of admixture. In this study, we analyze the whole-exome sequences of modern and ancient individuals from a Northwest Coast First Nation, with a demographic history similar to other indigenous populations from the Americas. We show that in approximately ten generations from initial European contact, the modern individuals exhibit reduced levels of novel and low-frequency variants, a lower proportion of potentially deleterious alleles, and decreased heterozygosity when compared to their ancestors. This pattern can be explained by a dramatic population decline, resulting in the loss of potentially damaging low-frequency variants, and subsequent admixture. We also find evidence that the indigenous population was on a steady decline in effective population size for several thousand years before contact, which emphasizes regional demography over the common conception of a uniform expansion after entry into the Americas. This study examines the genomic consequences of colonialism on an indigenous group and describes the continuing role of gene flow among modern populations.

Social convergence of gut microbiomes in vampire bats.

The 'social microbiome' can fundamentally shape the costs and benefits of group-living, but understanding social transmission of microbes in free-living animals is challenging due to confounding effects of kinship and shared environments (e.g. highly associated individuals often share the same spaces, food and water). Here, we report evidence for convergence towards a social microbiome among introduced common vampire bats, Desmodus rotundus, a highly social species in which adults feed only on blood, and engage in both mouth-to-body allogrooming and mouth-to-mouth regurgitated food sharing. Shotgun sequencing of samples from six zoos in the USA, 15 wild-caught bats from a colony in Belize and 31 bats from three colonies in Panama showed that faecal microbiomes were more similar within colonies than between colonies. To assess microbial transmission, we created an experimentally merged group of the Panama bats from the three distant sites by housing these bats together for four months. In this merged colony, we found evidence that dyadic gut microbiome similarity increased with both clustering and oral contact, leading to microbiome convergence among introduced bats. Our findings demonstrate that social interactions shape microbiome similarity even when controlling for past social history, kinship, environment and diet.

The ancestry and affiliations of Kennewick Man.

Kennewick Man, referred to as the Ancient One by Native Americans, is a male human skeleton discovered in Washington state (USA) in 1996 and initially radiocarbon dated to 8,340-9,200 calibrated years before present (BP). His population affinities have been the subject of scientific debate and legal controversy. Based on an initial study of cranial morphology it was asserted that Kennewick Man was neither Native American nor closely related to the claimant Plateau tribes of the Pacific Northwest, who claimed ancestral relationship and requested repatriation under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The morphological analysis was important to judicial decisions that Kennewick Man was not Native American and that therefore NAGPRA did not apply. Instead of repatriation, additional studies of the remains were permitted. Subsequent craniometric analysis affirmed Kennewick Man to be more closely related to circumpacific groups such as the Ainu and Polynesians than he is to modern Native Americans. In order to resolve Kennewick Man's ancestry and affiliations, we have sequenced his genome to ∼1× coverage and compared it to worldwide genomic data including for the Ainu and Polynesians. We find that Kennewick Man is closer to modern Native Americans than to any other population worldwide. Among the Native American groups for whom genome-wide data are available for comparison, several seem to be descended from a population closely related to that of Kennewick Man, including the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (Colville), one of the five tribes claiming Kennewick Man. We revisit the cranial analyses and find that, as opposed to genome-wide comparisons, it is not possible on that basis to affiliate Kennewick Man to specific contemporary groups. We therefore conclude based on genetic comparisons that Kennewick Man shows continuity with Native North Americans over at least the last eight millennia.

Ancient DNA suggests modern wolves trace their origin to a Late Pleistocene expansion from Beringia.

Grey wolves (Canis lupus) are one of the few large terrestrial carnivores that have maintained a wide geographical distribution across the Northern Hemisphere throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene. Recent genetic studies have suggested that, despite this continuous presence, major demographic changes occurred in wolf populations between the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene, and that extant wolves trace their ancestry to a single Late Pleistocene population. Both the geographical origin of this ancestral population and how it became widespread remain unknown. Here, we used a spatially and temporally explicit modelling framework to analyse a data set of 90 modern and 45 ancient mitochondrial wolf genomes from across the Northern Hemisphere, spanning the last 50,000 years. Our results suggest that contemporary wolf populations trace their ancestry to an expansion from Beringia at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum, and that this process was most likely driven by Late Pleistocene ecological fluctuations that occurred across the Northern Hemisphere. This study provides direct ancient genetic evidence that long-range migration has played an important role in the population history of a large carnivore, and provides insight into how wolves survived the wave of megafaunal extinctions at the end of the last glaciation. Moreover, because Late Pleistocene grey wolves were the likely source from which all modern dogs trace their origins, the demographic history described in this study has fundamental implications for understanding the geographical origin of the dog.

The genome of a Late Pleistocene human from a Clovis burial site in western Montana.

Clovis, with its distinctive biface, blade and osseous technologies, is the oldest widespread archaeological complex defined in North America, dating from 11,100 to 10,700 (14)C years before present (bp) (13,000 to 12,600 calendar years bp). Nearly 50 years of archaeological research point to the Clovis complex as having developed south of the North American ice sheets from an ancestral technology. However, both the origins and the genetic legacy of the people who manufactured Clovis tools remain under debate. It is generally believed that these people ultimately derived from Asia and were directly related to contemporary Native Americans. An alternative, Solutrean, hypothesis posits that the Clovis predecessors emigrated from southwestern Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum. Here we report the genome sequence of a male infant (Anzick-1) recovered from the Anzick burial site in western Montana. The human bones date to 10,705 ± 35 (14)C years bp (approximately 12,707-12,556 calendar years bp) and were directly associated with Clovis tools. We sequenced the genome to an average depth of 14.4× and show that the gene flow from the Siberian Upper Palaeolithic Mal'ta population into Native American ancestors is also shared by the Anzick-1 individual and thus happened before 12,600 years bp. We also show that the Anzick-1 individual is more closely related to all indigenous American populations than to any other group. Our data are compatible with the hypothesis that Anzick-1 belonged to a population directly ancestral to many contemporary Native Americans. Finally, we find evidence of a deep divergence in Native American populations that predates the Anzick-1 individual.

Population genetics of wild Macaca fascicularis with low-coverage shotgun sequencing of museum specimens.

OBJECTIVES: Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) are widely distributed throughout the mainland and islands of Southeast Asia, making them a useful model for understanding the complex biogeographical history resulting from drastic changes in sea levels throughout the Pleistocene. Past studies based on mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of long-tailed macaque museum specimens have traced their colonization patterns throughout the archipelago, but mitogenomes trace only the maternal history. Here, our objectives were to trace phylogeographic patterns of long-tailed macaques using low-coverage nuclear DNA (nDNA) data from museum specimens. METHODS: We performed population genetic analyses and phylogenetic reconstruction on nuclear single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from shotgun sequencing of 75 long-tailed macaque museum specimens from localities throughout Southeast Asia. RESULTS: We show that shotgun sequencing of museum specimens yields sufficient genome coverage (average ~1.7%) for reconstructing population relationships using SNP data. Contrary to expectations of divergent results between nuclear and mitochondrial genomes for a female philopatric species, phylogeographical patterns based on nuclear SNPs proved to be closely similar to those found using mitogenomes. In particular, population genetic analyses and phylogenetic reconstruction from the nDNA identify two major clades within M. fascicularis: Clade A includes all individuals from the mainland along with individuals from northern Sumatra, while Clade B consists of the remaining island-living individuals, including those from southern Sumatra. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, we demonstrate that low-coverage sequencing of nDNA from museum specimens provides enough data for examining broad phylogeographic patterns, although greater genome coverage and sequencing depth would be needed to distinguish between very closely related populations, such as those throughout the Philippines.

Ancient individuals from the North American Northwest Coast reveal 10,000 years of regional genetic continuity.

Recent genomic studies of both ancient and modern indigenous people of the Americas have shed light on the demographic processes involved during the first peopling. The Pacific Northwest Coast proves an intriguing focus for these studies because of its association with coastal migration models and genetic ancestral patterns that are difficult to reconcile with modern DNA alone. Here, we report the low-coverage genome sequence of an ancient individual known as "Shuká Káa" ("Man Ahead of Us") recovered from the On Your Knees Cave (OYKC) in southeastern Alaska (archaeological site 49-PET-408). The human remains date to ∼10,300 calendar (cal) y B.P. We also analyze low-coverage genomes of three more recent individuals from the nearby coast of British Columbia dating from ∼6,075 to 1,750 cal y B.P. From the resulting time series of genetic data, we show that the Pacific Northwest Coast exhibits genetic continuity for at least the past 10,300 cal y B.P. We also infer that population structure existed in the late Pleistocene of North America with Shuká Káa on a different ancestral line compared with other North American individuals from the late Pleistocene or early Holocene (i.e., Anzick-1 and Kennewick Man). Despite regional shifts in mtDNA haplogroups, we conclude from individuals sampled through time that people of the northern Northwest Coast belong to an early genetic lineage that may stem from a late Pleistocene coastal migration into the Americas.

Loxodonta Localizer: A Software Tool for Inferring the Provenance of African Elephants and Their Ivory Using Mitochondrial DNA.

Illegal hunting is a major threat to the elephants of Africa, with more elephants killed by poachers than die from natural causes. DNA from tusks has been used to infer the source populations for confiscated ivory, relying on nuclear genetic markers. However, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences can also provide information on the geographic origins of elephants due to female elephant philopatry. Here, we introduce the Loxodonta Localizer (LL; www.loxodontalocalizer.org), an interactive software tool that uses a database of mtDNA sequences compiled from previously published studies to provide information on the potential provenance of confiscated ivory. A 316 bp control region sequence, which can be readily generated from DNA extracted from ivory, is used as a query. The software generates a listing of haplotypes reported among 1917 African elephants in 24 range countries, sorted in order of similarity to the query sequence. The African locations from which haplotype sequences have been previously reported are shown on a map. We demonstrate examples of haplotypes reported from only a single locality or country, examine the utility of the program in identifying elephants from countries with varying degrees of sampling, and analyze batches of confiscated ivory. The LL allows for the source of confiscated ivory to be assessed within days, using widely available molecular methods that do not depend on a particular platform or laboratory. The program enables identification of potential regions or localities from which elephants are being poached, with capacity for rapid identification of populations newly or consistently targeted by poachers.

Population Structure Analyses Provide Insight into the Source Populations Underlying Rural Isolated Communities in Illinois.

We have previously hypothesized that relatively small and isolated rural communities may experience founder effects, defined as the genetic ramifications of small population sizes at the time of a community's establishment. To explore this, we used an Illumina Infinium Omni2.5Exome-8 chip to collect data from 157 individuals from four Illinois communities, three rural and one urban. Genetic diversity estimates of 999,259 autosomal markers suggested that the reduction in heterozygosity due to shared ancestry was approximately 0, indicating a randomly mating population. An eigenanalysis, which is similar to a principal component analysis but run on a genetic coancestry matrix, conducted in the SNPRelate R package revealed that most of these individuals formed one cluster, with a few putative outliers obscuring population variation. An additional eigenanalysis on the same markers in a combined data set including the 2,504 individuals in the 1000 Genomes database found that most of the 157 Illinois individuals clustered into one group in close proximity to individuals of European descent. A final eigenanalysis of the Illinois individuals with the 503 individuals of European descent (within the 1000 Genomes Project) revealed two clusters of individuals and likely two source populations; one British and one consisting of multiple European subpopulations. We therefore demonstrate the feasibility of examining genetic relatedness across Illinois populations and assessing the number of source populations using publicly available databases. When assessed, population structure information can contribute to the understanding of genetic history in rural populations.

Genetic Structure and Diversity Among Historic and Modern Populations of the Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis).

The Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), once widespread across Southeast Asia, now consists of as few as 30 individuals within Sumatra and Borneo. To aid in conservation planning, we sequenced 218 bp of control region mitochondrial (mt) DNA, identifying 17 distinct mitochondrial haplotypes across modern (N = 13) and museum (N = 26) samples. Museum specimens from Laos and Myanmar had divergent mtDNA, consistent with the placement of western mainland rhinos into the distinct subspecies D. s. lasiotis (presumed extinct). Haplotypes from Bornean rhinos were highly diverse, but dissimilar from those of other regions, supporting the distinctiveness of the subspecies D. s. harrissoni. Rhinos from Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia shared mtDNA haplotypes, consistent with their traditional placement into a single subspecies D. s sumatrensis. Modern samples of D. s. sumatrensis were genotyped at 18 microsatellite loci. Rhinos within Sumatra formed 2 sub-populations, likely separated by the Barisan Mountains, though with only modest genetic differentiation between them. There are so few remaining Sumatran rhinoceros that separate management strategies for subspecies or subpopulations may not be viable, while each surviving rhino pedigree is likely to retain alleles found in no other individuals. Given the low population size and low reproductive potential of Sumatran rhinos, rapid genetic erosion is inevitable, though an under-appreciated concern is the potential for fixation of harmful genetic variants. Both concerns underscore 2 overriding priorities for the species: 1) translocation of wild rhinos to ex situ facilities, and 2) collection and storage of gametes and cell lines from every surviving captive and wild individual.

Race and diversity in U.S. Biological Anthropology: A decade of AAPA initiatives.

Biological Anthropology studies the variation and evolution of living humans, non-human primates, and extinct ancestors and for this reason the field should be in an ideal position to attract scientists from a variety of backgrounds who have different views and experiences. However, the origin and history of the discipline, anecdotal observations, self-reports, and recent surveys suggest the field has significant barriers to attracting scholars of color. For a variety of reasons, including quantitative research that demonstrates that diverse groups do better science, the discipline should strive to achieve a more diverse composition. Here we discuss the background and underpinnings of the current and historical dearth of diversity in Biological Anthropology in the U.S. specifically as it relates to representation of minority and underrepresented minority (URM) (or racialized minority) scholars. We trace this lack of diversity to underlying issues of recruitment and retention in the STEM sciences generally, to the history of Anthropology particularly around questions of race-science, and to the absence of Anthropology at many minority-serving institutions, especially HBCUs, a situation that forestalls pathways to the discipline for many minority students. The AAPA Committee on Diversity (COD) was conceived as a means of assessing and improving diversity within the discipline, and we detail the history of the COD since its inception in 2006. Prior to the COD there were no systematic AAPA efforts to consider ethnoracial diversity in our ranks and no programming around questions of diversity and inclusion. Departmental survey data collected by the COD indicate that undergraduate majors in Biological Anthropology are remarkably diverse, but that the discipline loses these scholars between undergraduate and graduate school and systematically up rank. Our analysis of recent membership demographic survey data (2014 and 2017) shows Biological Anthropology to have less ethnoracial diversity than even the affiliated STEM disciplines of Biology and Anatomy; nearly 87% of AAPA members in the United States identify as white and just 7% as URM scholars. These data also suggest that the intersection of race and gender significantly influence scholarly representation. In response to these data, we describe a substantial body of programs that have been developed by the COD to improve diversity in our ranks. Through these programs we identify principal concerns that contribute to the loss of scholars of color from the discipline at different stages in their careers, propose other directions that programming for recruitment should take, and discuss the beginnings of how to develop a more inclusive discipline at all career stages.

Influence of fruit and invertebrate consumption on the gut microbiota of wild white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus).

OBJECTIVES: Invertebrate consumption is thought to be an integral part of early hominin diets, and many modern human populations regularly consume insects and other arthropods. This study examines the response of gut microbial community structure and function to changes in diet in wild white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus), a primate that incorporates a large proportion of invertebrates in its diet. The goal of the study is to better understand the role of both fruit and invertebrate prey consumption on shaping primate gut microbiomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fecal samples (n = 169) and dietary data were collected over 12 months. The V3-V5 region of microbial 16S rRNA genes was amplified and sequenced. The IM-TORNADO pipeline was used to analyze sequences. RESULTS: White-faced capuchin gut bacterial communities were characterized primarily by Firmicutes (41.6%) and Proteobacteria (39.2%). There was a significant relationship between the invertebrate diet composition of individual capuchins and their gut microbiome composition. However, there was no relationship between the fruit diet composition of individual capuchins and their gut microbiome composition, even when examining multiple timescales. DISCUSSION: The results of our study indicate that there is a stronger relationship between gut microbial community structure and invertebrate diet composition than between gut microbial community structure and fruit consumption. As invertebrates and other animal prey play an important role in the diet of many primates, these results give important insight into the role of faunivory in shaping the evolution of host-microbe interactions in primates.