Dispersals and diversification offers linguistic and archaeological perspectives on the disintegration of Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Two chapters discuss the early phases of the disintegration of Proto-Indo-European from an archaeological perspective, integrating and interpreting the new evidence from ancient DNA. Six chapters analyse the intricate relationship between the Anatolian branch of Indo-European, probably the first one to separate, and the remaining branches. Three chapters are concerned with the most important unsolved problems of Indo-European subgrouping, namely the status of the postulated Italo-Celtic and Graeco-Armenian subgroups. Two chapters discuss methodological problems with linguistic subgrouping and with the attempt to correlate linguistics and archaeology. Contributors are David W. Anthony, Rasmus Bjørn, José L. García Ramón, Riccardo Ginevra, Adam Hyllested, James A. Johnson, Kristian Kristiansen, H. Craig Melchert, Matthew Scarborough, Peter Schrijver, Matilde Serangeli, Zsolt Simon, Rasmus Thorsø, Michael Weiss.

A unique, interdisciplinary and up-to-date treatment exploring human migration and its role in creating novel ecosystems over the long term.

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How have humans colonised the entire planet and reshaped its ecosystems in the process? This unique and groundbreaking collection of essays explores human movement through time, the impacts of these movements on landscapes and other species, and the ways in which species have co-evolved and transformed each other as a result. Exploring the spread of people, plants, animals, and diseases through processes of migration, colonisation, trade and travel, it assembles a broad array of case studies from the Pliocene to the present. The contributors from disciplines across the humanities and natural sciences are senior or established scholars in the fields of human evolution, archaeology, history, and geography.

Of all human migrations, the most significant was that of the Mongoloid during the last Glacial period. Unrelated groups spread from their homeland in Asia through Siberia to the Americas, or across the Pacific, ultimately covering two-thirds of the earth's surface. This book takes a unique multi-disciplinary and international approach to the study of these migrations. By bringing to this model as many disciplines as possible--from molecular genetics and linguistics to archaeology and paleontology--a comprehensive picture is drawn which will not only shed light on this specific period of migration, but also help answer one of the greatest puzzles of evolutionary anthropology--the origin of Homo sapiens and the subsequent formation of different races and ethnic groups.

This book summarizes major aspects of the evolution of South American metatherians, including their epistemologic, phylogenetic, biogeographic, faunal, tectonic, paleoclimatic, and metabolic contexts. A brief overview of the evolution of each major South American lineage ("Ameridelphia", Sparassodonta, Didelphimorphia, Paucituberculata, Microbiotheria, and Polydolopimorphia) is provided. It is argued that due to physiological constraints, metatherian evolution closely followed the conditions imposed by global temperatures. In general terms, during the Paleocene and the early Eocene multiple radiations of metatherian lineages occurred, with many adaptive types exploiting insectivorous, frugivorous, and omnivorous adaptive zones. In turn, a mixture of generalized and specialized types, the latter mainly exploiting carnivorous and granivorous-folivorous adaptive zones, characterized the second half of the Cenozoic. In both periods, climate was the critical driver of their radiation and turnovers.

Studies are shown on many aspects of migration, population development, human genetics, archaeology, anthropology, biology, linguistics, and a broad range of genomic studies on migration and cultural and social structures in the past and present. Human migration started in Africa spread to Asia and other regions of our globe and was assessed by studies on ancient and contemporary mtDNA sequencing distributed from the artic to South America. The evolutionary consequences of the settlement of the Aleutian Islands, Samoyedic-speaking populations from Siberia; early human migrations in Gabon Africa, the Republic of Sakha (formerly, Yakutia), African migration to Europe during the twenty-first century, and the Y-chromosome diversity in Aztlan descendants associated with the History of Central Mexico. Human migration influenced by cultural practices was evaluated by biocultural approaches to migration and urbanization in the Peruvian Amazonia, the Ch'orti' Maya Diaspora in Search of Fertile Forests and Political Security. Evidence of human migration in the Puyil Cave (Puxcatán, Tabasco), the Maya and Zoques to the Mountain Region of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Quintana Too and Yucatan (from linguistic and archaeological perspectives) are also considered. It documented the migration of specific populations in the geographic distribution of diseases such as Dengue, and Mycobacterium. Human Migration : Biocultural Perspective explains human migration as a major contributor to globalization that facilitates gene flow and the exchange of cultures and ideas.

This book integrates three decades of owl monkey research conducted since 1994 when the first and only book focused on the genus Aotus was published. Owl monkeys were one of the least understood primates then; knowledge from wild populations was only beginning to emerge and there had been some substantial research in colonies of captive individuals. The situation is very different today. Research on captive owl monkeys has continued to develop, with valuable contributions to the health and medical sciences. And there is now enough information on the behavior, ecology, conservation, and biogeography of the genus that merits a synthesis. The book synthesizes new field data on the biogeography, behavioral ecology, circadian biology, population biology and demography spanning their entire continental range from Panamá to Argentina. It includes theoretical perspectives drawn from evolutionary biology, biological anthropology, anatomy, morphology and physiology, genetics, endocrinology and conservation biology to examine a specic set of adaptations that have allowed owl monkeys to exploit the nocturnal niche while functioning in a pair-living sexually monogamous system with remarkable patterns of paternal care. The author, with 30 years of research experience with both captive and wild primates, has directed the longest project on any owl monkey species and has conducted extensive original research on their biology, adaptive radiation and behavioral ecology. His expertise and published record on both wild populations and laboratory colonies makes this book one of a kind; it presents information from both captive and wild primates and explores questions through the integration of both approaches. The volume offers some additional features that make it novel in its approach: (1) brings together a combination of senior researchers who during four decades have established captive owl monkeys as a system of study with a new generation of younger scientists who have, for the last 10-20 years, been spearheading their study in the wild, (2) presents the work of a remarkably diverse range of authors representing all countries where owl monkeys are present, as well as researchers from the U.S and Europe, and (3) offers “synthesis” chapters; in doing so, it will surely become a reference book for those specifically drawn to owl monkeys, as well as for those interested in the research topics that are covered.

This book presents a synthesis of critical new information for the Melastomataceae, one of the ten richest families among flowering plants with over 5,800 species that has its diversity highly concentrated in tropical or subtropical areas. It describes the family’s global diversity and distribution and summarizes recent advances in systematics, evolution, biogeography, reproductive biology and ecology.