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)

seems like maybe they are trying to avoid overlap with existing faculty? 🤷‍♂️

Chat GPT, write me a 75 word mealy mouth nothingberger apology that doesn’t apologize or admit wrongdoing.

Hi Kristi! Thanks for the recommendation :-)

Erin already got ya, but here it is in meme form:

thanks!