Mechanical evidence that Australopithecus sediba was limited in its ability to eat hard foods.

Australopithecus sediba has been hypothesized to be a close relative of the genus Homo. Here we show that MH1, the type specimen of A. sediba, was not optimized to produce high molar bite force and appears to have been limited in its ability to consume foods that were mechanically challenging to eat. Dental microwear data have previously been interpreted as indicating that A. sediba consumed hard foods, so our findings illustrate that mechanical data are essential if one aims to reconstruct a relatively complete picture of feeding adaptations in extinct hominins. An implication of our study is that the key to understanding the origin of Homo lies in understanding how environmental changes disrupted gracile australopith niches. Resulting selection pressures led to changes in diet and dietary adaption that set the stage for the emergence of our genus.

Biomechanical implications of intraspecific shape variation in chimpanzee crania: moving toward an integration of geometric morphometrics and finite element analysis.

In a broad range of evolutionary studies, an understanding of intraspecific variation is needed in order to contextualize and interpret the meaning of variation between species. However, mechanical analyses of primate crania using experimental or modeling methods typically encounter logistical constraints that force them to rely on data gathered from only one or a few individuals. This results in a lack of knowledge concerning the mechanical significance of intraspecific shape variation that limits our ability to infer the significance of interspecific differences. This study uses geometric morphometric methods (GM) and finite element analysis (FEA) to examine the biomechanical implications of shape variation in chimpanzee crania, thereby providing a comparative context in which to interpret shape-related mechanical variation between hominin species. Six finite element models (FEMs) of chimpanzee crania were constructed from CT scans following shape-space Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of a matrix of 709 Procrustes coordinates (digitized onto 21 specimens) to identify the individuals at the extremes of the first three principal components. The FEMs were assigned the material properties of bone and were loaded and constrained to simulate maximal bites on the P(3) and M(2) . Resulting strains indicate that intraspecific cranial variation in morphology is associated with quantitatively high levels of variation in strain magnitudes, but qualitatively little variation in the distribution of strain concentrations. Thus, interspecific comparisons should include considerations of the spatial patterning of strains rather than focus only on their magnitudes.

The feeding biomechanics and dietary ecology of Paranthropus boisei.

The African Plio-Pleistocene hominins known as australopiths evolved derived craniodental features frequently interpreted as adaptations for feeding on either hard, or compliant/tough foods. Among australopiths, Paranthropus boisei is the most robust form, exhibiting traits traditionally hypothesized to produce high bite forces efficiently and strengthen the face against feeding stresses. However, recent mechanical analyses imply that P. boisei may not have been an efficient producer of bite force and that robust morphology in primates is not necessarily strong. Here we use an engineering method, finite element analysis, to show that the facial skeleton of P. boisei is structurally strong, exhibits a strain pattern different from that in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and Australopithecus africanus, and efficiently produces high bite force. It has been suggested that P. boisei consumed a diet of compliant/tough foods like grass blades and sedge pith. However, the blunt occlusal topography of this and other species suggests that australopiths are adapted to consume hard foods, perhaps including grass and sedge seeds. A consideration of evolutionary trends in morphology relating to feeding mechanics suggests that food processing behaviors in gracile australopiths evidently were disrupted by environmental change, perhaps contributing to the eventual evolution of Homo and Paranthropus.

Finite element analysis of a femur to deconstruct the paradox of bone curvature.

Most long limb bones in terrestrial mammals exhibit a longitudinal curvature and have been found to be loaded in bending. Bone curvature poses a paradox in terms of the mechanical function of limb bones, for many believe the curvature in these bones increases bending stress, potentially reducing the bone's load carrying capacity (i.e., its mechanical strength). The aim of this study is to investigate the role of longitudinal bone curvature in the design of limb bones. In particular, it has been hypothesized that bone curvature results in a trade-off between the bone's mechanical strength and its bending predictability. We employed finite element analysis (FEA) of abstract and realistic human femora to address this issue. Geometrically simplified human femur models with different curvatures were developed and analyzed with a commercial FEA tool to examine how curvature affects the bone's bending predictability and load carrying capacity. Results were post-processed to yield probability density functions (PDFs) describing the circumferential location of maximum equivalent stress for various curvatures in order to assess bending predictability. To validate our findings, a finite element model was built from a CT scan of a real human femur and compared to the simplified femur model. We found general agreement in trends but some quantitative differences most likely due to the geometric differences between the digitally reconstructed and the simplified finite element models. As hypothesized by others, our results support the hypothesis that bone curvature can increase bending predictability, but at the expense of bone strength.

Viewpoints: diet and dietary adaptations in early hominins: the hard food perspective.

Recent biomechanical analyses examining the feeding adaptations of early hominins have yielded results consistent with the hypothesis that hard foods exerted a selection pressure that influenced the evolution of australopith morphology. However, this hypothesis appears inconsistent with recent reconstructions of early hominin diet based on dental microwear and stable isotopes. Thus, it is likely that either the diets of some australopiths included a high proportion of foods these taxa were poorly adapted to consume (i.e., foods that they would not have processed efficiently), or that aspects of what we thought we knew about the functional morphology of teeth must be wrong. Evaluation of these possibilities requires a recognition that analyses based on microwear, isotopes, finite element modeling, and enamel chips and cracks each test different types of hypotheses and allow different types of inferences. Microwear and isotopic analyses are best suited to reconstructing broad dietary patterns, but are limited in their ability to falsify specific hypotheses about morphological adaptation. Conversely, finite element analysis is a tool for evaluating the mechanical basis of form-function relationships, but says little about the frequency with which specific behaviors were performed or the particular types of food that were consumed. Enamel chip and crack analyses are means of both reconstructing diet and examining biomechanics. We suggest that current evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that certain derived australopith traits are adaptations for consuming hard foods, but that australopiths had generalized diets that could include high proportions of foods that were both compliant and tough.

Low ponderal index is associated with decreased muscle strength and fatigue resistance in college-aged women.

Poor fetal growth is associated with decrements in muscle strength likely due to changes during myogenesis. We investigated the association of poor fetal growth with muscle strength, fatigue resistance, and the response to training in the isolated quadriceps femoris. Females (20.6 years) born to term but below the 10th percentile of ponderal index (PI)-for-gestational-age (LOWPI, n=14) were compared to controls (HIGHPI, n=14), before and after an 8-week training. Muscle strength was assessed as grip-strength and as the maximal isometric voluntary contraction (MVC) of the quadriceps femoris. Muscle fatigue was assessed during knee extension exercise. Body composition and the maximal oxygen consumption (VO(2)max) were also measured. Controlling for fat free mass (FFM), LOWPI versus HIGHPI women had ~11% lower grip-strength (P=0.023), 9-24% lower MVC values (P=0.042 pre-trained; P=0.020 post-trained), a higher rate of fatigue (pre- and post-training), and a diminished training response (P=0.016). Statistical control for FFM increased rather than decreased strength differences between PI groups. The PI was not associated with VO(2)max or measures of body composition. Strength and fatigue decrements strongly suggest that poor fetal growth affects the pathway of muscle force generation. This could be due to neuromotor and/or muscle morphologic changes during development e.g., fiber number, fiber type, etc. Muscle from LOWPI women may also be less responsive to training. Indirectly, results also implicate muscle as a potential mediator between poor fetal growth and adult chronic disease, given muscle's direct role in determining insulin resistance, type II diabetes, physical activity, and so forth.