The evolution of mammals against climate change.
Bogdan Góralski
Library of The Historical Institute of the University of Warsaw
My arguments are based on many years of study and Wojciech Mikołuszko article entitled Family of Man, which is stated in National Geographic Poland 4 (175), in April 2014, as well as using the article entitled Anthropogenesis in Wikipedia.
The development of the hominid evolutionary Hominidae
During the evolution of the environment of our planet continued evolution of biological life. The cluster of mammals appeared in the evolutionary chain of about 200 million years ago, in the Jurassic period, which was characterized by a globally warm climate. From the Cretaceous, about 165 million years ago, the climate began to chill globally. This continues to the present day, then grows gradually. Around 1.8 million years ago in the northern hemisphere appeared glaciers.
Periods of rising ice sheets usually lasting about 100 thousands of years and were parted warm periods lasting about 10 thousand years when temperatures on Earth were similar to those present. In periods of glaciation occurred shorter cold episodes -stadials and phase movement of the glacier, as well as interstadials and interphase periods of warming, which says Quaternary geology. Fluctuations in the Earth’s climate can be divided into even shorter sections.
The cluster of mammals evolved successfully increasing their numbers from the Jurassic period, among other things thanks to the constant body temperature, which allowed settle and control almost all of the Earth’s environment. Climate change on Earth is characterized mainly by the temperature of air and surface seawater and the amount of precipitation.
Earth’s climate changes globally and regionally with the movements of the earth’s coating (see Góralski 2019). Along with the movements of the earth’s coating (which changes its position relative to the ecliptic plane), climate zones that are motionless relative to the ecliptic plane move above the earth’s surface. The greater the movement of the earth’s coating at a given time, the lower were the temperatures of ocean waters. The regional shift of precipitation zones on the Earth causing movement of vegetation zones towards the equator (when the climate cools down) or towards the Arctic or Antarctic zones during global warming. The movement of plant zones, that also changing its location in direction east-west, had followed by the movement of the animals that feed mainly on plants.
Walking warm-blooded mammals and their simultaneous evolution resulted from the early Oligocene 35-31 million years ago, the emergence of primates apes Hominoidea, which describes the development of pt. Antropogeneza article in Wikipedia. The evolutionary mechanism by which appeared in the evolutionary line of hominids Hominidae -hominids, was probably based on the constant migration to the rhythm of climate change, the groups of hominids around the globe. I describe below.
The answer to the question of how to change the climate (and humanoids with it) will bring stratigraphy of Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary showing the evolution of the environment of our planet, and the result of the consequences of successive waves of warming and cooling climate, which we read, when in Africa emerged conditions (violent warming and drying climate) forcing the biosphere wandering north-south direction.
Walking north and returns south population of hominids (warming and drying climate in Africa results in a reduction in food intake and causes stress, forcing the trek for food) looking for food caused genetic changes (standing upright in a well-drained grassy steppe provides greater visibility and easier survival) in skeleton and brain, because the greater the number of visual stimuli and a new environment necessitated the need to process larger amounts of information. The adaptation was the development of the brain that processes the information.
Cool climate resulted in higher latitudes worse living conditions which encouraged to journey south. In turn, found a younger and younger hominid remains marked by a gradual increase in the size of the braincase. Hominid populations remain in place mutated genetically very slow and probably dying, and those traveling mutate very quickly which resulted at the end of the formation of a separate genetic line of hominids.
Walking north-south direction also favored the production of the cultural envelope (to facilitate survival) – language to facilitate communication of new information on the environment and ethics cementing the group which allowed the survival of the subject in a new environment interglacial and glacial Eurasian continent and Africa.
When and how hominids straightened up and stood on two legs?
The upright position is more ergonomic during long hikes on well-watered grassy steppe zones and provides better visibility in high grass steppes and tundra, and there was no shortage of such wandering of humid climatic zones of Eurasia and Africa. It facilitates visual communication wandering groups, searches or hunt for food and defense against predators. Hiking on the north-south (in periods of warming or cooling climate) groups of hominids favored adopting an upright position and resulted in genetic mutations to facilitate adaptation to the new living environment with high prairie grasses – consolidation of genetically upright posture.
Why in the evolutionary line of hominids expanded brain?
The organ of vision provides us with a vast amount of information about the surrounding environment. When wandering on the north-south group of hominids encounters a new environment, there is new visual information. Nowadays people say that travel broadens. In this new environment, often survive those individuals who are better able to process and use information, have better-developed brains. Mutations with larger brains survive and have offspring that provide rewarding these features in the population and the development of the capacity of the skull in subsequent generations of hominids.
The wandering group communication is needed for defense against predators and foraging. The more efficient the brain provides more frequently the survival of the subject. The size of the brain and intellect features that facilitate survival in the group, promote genetic mutations developing brains of hominids. Develops cultural sheath, and in the technology of survival wandering group, which favors the evolution of individuals endowed with better-developed brains that can actively use this sheath to facilitate survival.
What were the origins of the language of hominids?
The solution to this puzzle includes a previous explanation. Changing environment (in traveling on a north-south in search of food group of hominids) forces to facilitate the survival behavior of a group protecting the individual. New environmental stimuli imply the development of communication facilitates the exchange of information about the new environment in which you live. There are new situations and new concepts that you need to express to allow the survival of the group and the individual. Mutations genotype better communicate frequently behave life and produce offspring, which favors the development of evolutionary characteristics of the brain (to facilitate communication and language development within a traveling group of hominids).
What enforced migration of the population hominids and humans?
The cooling gradually from the Cretaceous Earth’s climate fluctuated. Climate oscillations and their amplitude gradually increased to simulate the changes in the vegetation of our planet. Another warming brought its drying and the deterioration of the living environment in the vicinity of the equator and tropics, and improve the conditions of biological life (warmer and more rain) at higher latitudes. Subsequent warming, cool climate, characterized by an increase in rainfall in the regions between the tropics, caused the appearance of better conditions for biological life in the regions closer to the equator.
Regional climate change forced changes warmth of the oceans caused climate change is also in the East-West direction. All this resulted in cyclical changes in the distribution of vegetation zones on the globe and followed the movements of these zones was moving animals have fed them. Moved at times, especially during the Quaternary, a group of hominids that are subject to evolution during subsequent migrations after changing the rhythm of climate change the globe.
What caused the dominance of homo sapiens over the Neanderthals?
In my opinion populations of Homo sapiens, were more numerous than the populations of Neanderthals and their properties predominate in the human population. However, as a result of mixing the two evolutionary lines occurred fixation and storage characteristics of Neanderthals in the modern human population. This is evident in the varieties of the culture of our civilization differentiated on the male culture of Neanderthals and homo sapiens female culture.
Warsaw, 16-21 November 2014.