We conclude that we must take habitat reconstructions of extinct species as minimum estimates. We also point out that the rift is bad at capturing east-west gradients in variation. Free link to article here rdcu.be/dRqUm (4/4)

Spatial sampling bias influences our understanding of early hominin evolution in eastern Africa

Nature Ecology & Evolution - The Eastern African Rift System (EARS) is a key location for the hominin fossil record, but the fact that it samples a narrow section of the continent has long been...

We then take published cranial datasets of modern baboons and guenons and ask, how much anatomical variation does the rift capture in these widely distributed primates? Turns out major portions of morphological variation are missed by the rift. (3/4)

We take modern mammals that live in the rift for part of their range. We then "blind" ourselves to each species' occurrence outside the rift, and compare the rift to the full ranges. Unsurprisingly, the rift reflects the drier, less woody part of species' ranges. (2/4)

In my paper, coauthor Bernard Wood and I explore the potential impacts of a spatially limited fossil record on understanding human evolution. We do this using two "thought experiments", focusing on the Eastern African Rift Valley. (1/4)

postdoc on hominin postcranial morphology to work on the Woranso-Mille hominins with Yohannes Haile-Selassie et al! apply.interfolio.com/137850

As true this year as every year.

what kind of person are you? A) there is no more toothpaste B) there's DEFINITELY at least one more squeeze in there!

So proud of Kate Fish for successfully defending her dissertation proposal today. We are looking forward to exciting research on modeling biases in the fossil record!!

any other biological anthropologists getting calls from the hospitality union in Los Angeles calling for a general boycott of the city and telling us not to go there for #AABA24?

I was just making a map in QGIS and accidentally zoomed out on my digital elevation model base layer, and accidentally 'discovered' that Antartica has the highest average elevation of any continent! Genuinely very surprised.....no idea.