Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

9 Contribution of Stable Light Isotopes to Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Paleoanthropology

Abstract

In this chapter, we focus attention on the potential linkages between hominin evolution and environmental change in Africa, as shown by the stable light isotope evidence. We begin with an overview of the principles and the materials typically available to produce this kind of stable isotope data. Carbon isotope analyses of faunal enamel, soils, and ostrich eggshells provide good evidence for the emergence of C4 grasses ca. 5–8 Ma, broadly concordant with hominin bipedalism. Although C4 grasses remained a modest yet variable component of the vegetation for millions of years, the associated biomass may have quickly become an important foraging resource for hominins. Rather than a climate-driven “pulse” ca. 2.4–2.8 Ma, evidence from East and South Africa suggests a significant change to more open, grassy ecosystems ca. 1.8 Ma, broadly concordant with the emergence of early Homo. On present evidence, there appears to be only a weak overall aridification trend for the entire period from ca. 4 Ma. Speleothem and other evidence points to deep-rooted cyclicity in floral and rainfall shifts, which suggest that obliquity and precessional orbital cycles were important drivers of environmental variability. In relation to climate and environmental influences on hominin evolution, a revised “Savanna” hypothesis may yet be compatible with the “variability selection” hypothesis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 999.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Isotope ratios are expressed by convention in the δ notation, in parts per thousand (‰) relative to a standard: δX (‰) = (R sample-R ref)/R ref × 1000, where R is the isotopic ratio. V-SMOW (Standard Mean Ocean Water) is used as the reference for D/H and 18O/16O in water, V-PDB (Peedee Belemnite) for 18O/16O and 13C/12C in carbonates and organic materials, and atmospheric N2 (AIR) for 15N/14N.

References

  • Ayliffe LK, Chivas AR (1990) Oxygen isotope composition of the bone phosphate of Australian kangaroos: Potential as a paleoenvironmental recorder. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 54: 2603–2609

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Behrensmeyer AK, Todd N, Potts R, McBrinn G (1997) Late Pliocene faunal turnover in the Turkana basin, Kenya and Ethiopia. Science 278: 1589–1594

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bobe R, Behrensmeyer AK, Chaplin RE (2002) Faunal change, environmental variability and late Pliocene hominid evolution. J Hum Evol 42: 475–497

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bocherens H, Koch PL, Mariotti A, Geraads D, Jaeger J-J (1996) Isotopic biogeochemistry (13C, 18O) of mammalian enamel from African Pleistocene hominid sites. PALAIOS 11: 306–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonnefille R (1983) Evidence for a cooler and drier climate in the Ethiopian uplands towards 2.5 Myr ago. Nature 303: 487–491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonnefille R (1995) A reassessment of the Plio-Pleistocene pollen record of East Africa. In: Vrba et al ES (eds) Paleoclimate and human evolution, with special emphasis on human origins. New Haven, Yale University Press, pp 299–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant JD, Froelich PN, Showers WJ, Genna BJ (1996) A tale of two quarries: Biologic and taphonomic signatures in the oxygen isotope composition of tooth enamel phosphate from modern and Miocene equids. PALAIOS 11: 397–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cerling TC, Bowman JC, O'Neill JR (1988) An isotopic study of a fluvial-lacustrine sequence: The Plio-Pleistocene Koobi for a sequence, East Africa. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 63: 335–356

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cerling TE (1992) Development of grasslands and savannas in East Africa during the Neogene. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 97: 241–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cerling TE, Quade J, Ambrose SH, Sikes NE (1991) Fossil soils, grasses and carbon isotopes from Fort Ternan, Kenya: Grassland or woodland? J Hum Evol 21: 295–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cerling TE, Quade J (1993) Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in soil carbonates. In: Swart PK, Lohmann KC, McKenzie J, Savin S (eds) Climate Change in Continental records, Geophysical Monograph 78, American Geophysical Union, pp 217–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerling TE, Harris JM, MacFadden BJ, Leakey MG, Quade J, Eisenman V, Ehleringer JR (1997) Global vegetation change through the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. Nature 389: 153–158

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cerling TE, Harris JM (1999) Carbon isotope fractionation between diet and bioapatite in ungulate mammals and implications for ecological and paleoecological studies. Oecologia 120: 347–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cerling TE, Harris JM, Passey BH (2003) Diets of East African Bovidae based on stable isotope analysis. J Mammal 84: 456–470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dansgaard W (1964) Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16: 436–468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Heinzelin J, Clark JD, White TD, Hart W, Renne P, WoldeGabriel G, Beyene Y, Vrba E (1999) Environment and behavior of 2.5-million-year-old Bouri Hominids. Science 284: 625–629

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • deMenocal PB (1995) Plio-Pleistocene African climate. Science 270: 53–59

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dupont LM (1999) Pollen and spores in marine sediments from the East Atlantic – a view from the ocean into the African continent. In Fischer G, Wefer G (eds) Use of proxies in palaeoceanography: Examples from the South Atlantic. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 523–546

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ehleringer JR, Cerling TE, Helliker BR (1997) C4 photosyhtesis, atmospheric CO2, and climate. Oecologia 112: 285–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feibel C (1997) Debating the environmental factors in hominid evolution. GSA Today 7 (3): 1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox DL, Koch PL (2003) Tertiary history of C4 biomass in the Great Plains, USA. Geology 31, 809–812

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Franz-Odendaal TA, Lee-Thorp JA, Chinsamy A (2002) New evidence for lack of C4 grassland expansions during the early Pliocene at Langebaanweg, South Africa. Paleobiology 28: 378–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Handley LL, Austin AT, Robinson D, Scrimgeour CM, Raven JA, Heaton THE, Schmidt S, Stewart GR (1999) The N-15 natural abundance (δ15N) of ecosystem samples reflects measures of water availability. Aust J Plant Physiol 26:185–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heaton THE (1987) The N-15/N-14 ratios of plants in South-Africa and Namibia—relationship to climate and coastal saline environments. Oecologia 74:236–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heaton THE, Vogel JC, von la Chevallerie G, Collett G (1986). Climatic influence on the isotopic composition of bone collagen. Nature 322: 822–823

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holmgren K, Karlén W, Shaw P (1995) Paleoclimatic significance of the stable light isotopic composition and petrology of a late Pleistocene stalagmite from Botswana. Quat Res 43: 320–328

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holmgren K, Lee-Thorp JA, Cooper GRJ, Lundblad K, Partridge TC, Scott L, Sithaldeen R, Talma AS, Tyson PD (2003) Persistent millennial-scale variability over the past 25 thousand years in southern Africa. Quat Sci Rev 22: 2311–2326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopley PJ (2004) Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of South African hominin-bearing cave deposits using stable isotope geochemistry. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Liverpool, 241 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopley PJ, Latham AG, Marshall JD (2006) Palaeoenvironments and palaeodiets of mid-Pliocene micromammals from Makapansgat Limeworks, South Africa: A stable isotope and dental microwear approach. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 233: 235–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs BF, Kingston JD, Jacobs LL (1999) The origin of grass-dominated ecosystems. Ann Missouri Bot Gard 86: 590–643

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson BL, Miller GH, Fogel ML, Beaumont PB (1997) The determination of late Quaternary paleoenvironments at Equus Cave, South Africa, using stable isotopes and amino acid racemization in ostrich eggshell. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 136: 121–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kingston JD, Marino BD, Hill A (1994) Isotopic evidence for Neogene hominid paleoenvironments in the Kenya Rift Valley. Science 264: 955–959

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koch P (1998) Isotopic reconstruction of past continental environments. Ann Rev Earth Planet Sci 26: 573–613

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn MJ, Schoeninger MJ, Valley JW (1996) Herbivore tooth oxygen isotope compositions: Effects of diet and physiology. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 60: 3889–3896

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee-Thorp JA (2004) Longterm, high resolution records of climate variability from cave speleothems in Cold Air Cave, Makapans Valley, Limpopo Province. Water Research Commission of South Africa, Pretoria, pp 1–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee-Thorp JA, Beaumont PB (1995) Vegetation and seasonality shifts during the late Quaternary deduced from 13C/12C ratios of grazers at Equus Cave, South Africa. Quat Res 43(3): 426–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee-Thorp JA, Talma S (2000) Stable light isotopes and past environments in the southern African Quaternary and Pliocene. In: Partridge TC, Maud R (eds) The Cenozoic of southern Africa. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 236–251

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee-Thorp JA, Merwe van der NJ (1987) Carbon isotope analysis of fossil bone apatite. S Afr J Sci 83: 712–715

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee-Thorp JA, Thackeray JF, van der NJ Merwe (2000) The hunters and the hunted revisited. J Hum Evol 39: 565–576

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee-Thorp JA, Sponheimer M, Merwe van der NJ (2003) What do stable isotopes tell us about hominin diets. Int J Osteoarchaeol 13: 104–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin NE, Quade J, Simpson SW, Semaw S, Rogers M (2004) Isotopic evidence for Plio-Pleistocene environmental change at Gona, Ethiopia. Earth Planet Sci Lett 219: 93–110

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Levin NE, Cerling TE, Passey BH, Harris JM, Ehleringer JR (2006) A stable isotope aridity index for terrestrial environments. PNAS 103: 11201–11205

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • LeGeros RZ (1991) Calcium phosphates in oral biology and medicine. Karger, Paris

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Longinelli A (1984) Oxygen isotopes in mammal bone phosphate: A new tool for paleohydrological and paleoclimatological research? Geochim Cosmochim Acta 48: 385–390

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luyt J, Lee-Thorp JA (2003) Carbon isotope ratios of Sterkfontein fossils indicate a marked shift to open environments ca. 1.7 Ma. S Afr J Sci 99: 271–273

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luz B, Kolodny Y (1985) Oxygen isotopes variations in phosphate of biogenic apatites, IV. Mammal teeth and bones. Earth Planet Sci Lett 75: 29–36

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luz B, Kolodny Y (1989) Oxygen isotope variation in bone phosphate. Appl Geochem 4: 317–323

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCrea JM (1950) On the isotopic chemistry of carbonates and a paleotemperature scale. J Chem Phys. 18: 849–857

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan M, Kingston JD, Marino BD (1994) Carbon isotope evidence for emergence of C4 plants in the Neogene from Pakistan and Kenya. Nature 367: 162–165

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson SE, Entekhabi D (1986) The quasi-periodic behaviour of rainfall variability in Africa and its relationship to the Southern Oscillation. Arch Met Geophys Bioklimatol 34A: 311–348

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen-Smith N (1999) Ecological links between African savanna environments, climate change, and hominid evolution. In: Bromage TG, Schrenk F (eds) African biogeography, climate change, and human evolution. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 138–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Pagani M, Arthur MA, Freeman KT (1999) Late Miocene atmospheric CO2 concentrations and the expansion of C4 grasses. Science 285: 876–879

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Partridge TC, deMenocal PB, Lorentz SA, Paiker MJ, Vogel JC (1997) Quat Sci Rev 16: 1125–1137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potts R (1996) Evolution and climate variability. Science 273: 922–923

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Potts R (1998) Variability selection in hominid evolution. Evol Anthropol 7: 81–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quade J, Cerling IE, Bowman JR (1989) Development of the Asian monsoon revealed by a marked ecological shift during the latest Miocene in northern Pakistan. Nature 342: 163–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed K (1997) Early hominid evolution and ecological change through the African Plio-Pleistocene. J Hum Evol 32: 289–322

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rozanski K, Araguas-Araguas L, Gonfiantini R (1993) Isotopic patterns in modern global precipitation. In: Swart PK, Lohmann KC, McKenzie J, Savin S (eds) Climate change in continental isotopic records. Geophysical Monograph, AGU, Washington, pp 1–36

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sage RF, Wedin DA, Li M (1999) The biogeography of C4 photosynthesis. In: Sage RF, Monson RK (eds) C4 Plant Biology. Academic Press, New York, pp 313–373

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Chillon B, Alberdi MT, Leone G, Bonadonna FB, Stenni B, Longinelli A (1994) Oxygen isotopic composition of fossil equid tooth and bone phosphate: An archive of difficult interpretation. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 107: 317–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoeninger MJ, Reeser H, Hallin K (2003) Paleoenvironment of Australopithecus anamensis at Allia Bay, East Turkana, Kenya: Evidence from mammalian herbivore enamel stable isotopes. J Anthropolog Archaeo 22: 200–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholes RJ, Walker BH (1993) An African savanna—synthesis of the Nylsvlei study. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 1–318

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sealy JC, van der Merwe NJ, Lee-Thorp JA, Lanham JL (1987) Nitrogen isotopic ecology in southern Africa: Implications for environmental and dietary tracing. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 51: 2707–2717

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ségalen L (2003) Evolution environnementale du Désert du Namib depuis le Miocéne. Ph.D. thesis, Academie de Paris, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, pp 1–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Ségalen L, Renard M, Lee-Thorp JA, Emmanuel L, Le Callonnec L, de Rafélis M, Senut B, Pickford M, Melice J-L (2006) Neogene climate change and emergence of C4 grasses in the Namib, southwestern Africa, as reflected in ratite 13C and 18O. Earth Planet Sci Lett 244: 725–734

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shackleton NJ, Backman J, Zimmerman H, Kent DV, Hall M, Roberts DG, Schnitker D, Baldauf JG, Despairies A, Homrighausen R, Huddlestun P, Keene JB, Kaltenback AJ, Krumsiek KAO, Morton AC, Murray JW, Westberg-Smith J (1984) Oxygen isotope calibration of the onset of ice-rafting and history of glaciation in the North Atlantic region. Nature 307: 620–623

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sikes N, Potts R, Behrensmeyer AK (1999) Early Pleistocene habitat in Member 1, Olorgesailie based on paleosol stable isotopes. J Hum Evol 37: 721–746

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith BN, Epstein S (1971) Two categories of 13C/12C ratios for higher plants. Plant Physiol 47: 380–384

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sponheimer M (1999) Isotopic ecology of the Makapansgat Limeworks fauna. Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University

    Google Scholar 

  • Sponheimer M, Lee-Thorp JA (1999a) Isotopic evidence for the diet of an early hominid, Australopithecus africanus. Science 283: 368–370

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sponheimer M, Lee-Thorp JA (1999b) The ecological significance of oxygen isotopes in enamel carbonate. J Archaeol Sci 26: 723–728

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sponheimer M, Lee-Thorp JA (2001) The oxygen isotope composition of mammalian enamel carbonate: A case study from Morea Estate, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Oecologia 126: 153–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sponheimer M, Lee-Thorp JA (2003) Using bovid carbon isotope data to provide palaeoenvironmental information. S Afr J Sci 99: 273–275

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sponheimer M, Lee Thorp JA, De Ruiter DJ, Smith JM, van der Merwe NJ, Reed K, Grant CC, Ayliffe LK, Robinson TF, Heidelberger C, Marcus W (2003) Diets of southern African Bovidae: Stable isotope evidence. J Mammal 84 (2): 471–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sponheimer M, Lee-Thorp J, de Ruiter D, Codron D, Codron J, Baugh A, Thackeray F (2005) Hominins, sedges, and termites: New carbon isotope data from the Sterkfontein Valley and Kruger National Park. J Hum Evol 48: 301–312

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stern LA, Johnson GD, Chamberlain CP (1994) Carbon isotope signature of environmental change found in fossil ratite eggshells from a South Asian Neogene sequence. Geology 22: 419–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trauth MH, Maslin MA, Deino A, Strecker MR (2005) Late Cenozoic moisture history of East Africa. Science 309: 2051–2053

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tyson PD, Lee-Thorp JA, Holmgren K, Thackeray JF (2002) Changing gradients of climate change in southern Africa during the past millennium: Implications for population movements. Climatic Change 52: 129–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Merwe NJ, Medina E (1989) Photosynthesis and 13C/12C ratios in Amazonian rain forests. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 53: 1091–1094

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Merwe NJ, Medina E. (1991) The canopy effect, carbon isotope ratios and foodwebs in Amazonia. J Archaeol Sci 18: 249–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van der Merwe NJ, Cushing AE, Blumenschine RJ (1999) Stable isotope ratios of fauna and the environment of paleolake Olduvai. J Hum Evol 34: A24–A25

    Google Scholar 

  • van der Merwe NJ, Thackeray JF, Lee-Thorp JA, Luyt J (2003) The carbon isotope ecology and diet of Australopithecus africanus at Sterkfontein, South Africa. J Hum Evol 44: 581–597

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vrba ES (1980) The significance of bovid remains as indicators of environment and predation patterns. In: Behrensmeyer AK, Hill AP (eds) Fossils in the making. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 247–272

    Google Scholar 

  • Vrba ES (1985) Ecological and adaptive changes associated with early hominid evolution. In: Delson E (ed) Ancestors: The hard evidence. Alan R. Liss, New York, pp 63–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Vrba ES (1988) Late Pliocene climatic events and human evolution. In: Grine FE (ed) Evolutionary history of the “robust” australopithecines, Aldine de Gruyter, New York, pp 405–426

    Google Scholar 

  • WoldeGabriel G, Haile-Selassie Y, Rennie PR, Hart WK, Ambrose SH, Asfaw B, Helken G, White T (2001) Geology and palaeontology of the Late Miocene Middle Awash valley, Afar Rift, Ethiopia. Nature 412: 175–178

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wynn JG (2004) Influence of Pilo-Pleistocene aridification on human evolution: Evidence from paleosols of the Turkana basin, Kenya. Am J Phys Anthrop 123: 106–118

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yakir D (1992) Variations in the natural abundances of oxygen-18 and deuterium in plant carbohydrates. Plant Cell Environ 15: 1005–1020

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zachos J, Pagani M, Sloan L, Thomas E, Billups K (2001) Trends, rhythms and aberrations in global climates from 65 Ma to Present. Science 292: 686–693

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zazzo A, Bocherens H, Brunet M, Beauvilain A, Billiou D, Mackaye HT, Vignaud P, Mariotti A (2000) Herbivore paleodiet and paleoenvironment changes in Chad during the Pliocene using stable isotopee ratios in tooth enamel carbonate. Paleobiology 26: 294–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Julia Lee-Thorp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matt Sponheimer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Lee-Thorp, J., Sponheimer, M. (2007). 9 Contribution of Stable Light Isotopes to Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction. In: Handbook of Paleoanthropology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-33761-4_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation