Institute for Studies in Landscape and Human Evolution

Description

What drove the evolution of the human species? Why did some species in the human family tree (hominins) become extinct while others did not? What role did climate change and landscape process play in guiding this evolution?

These are fundamental questions about human origins and what drove human evolution. The Institute for Studies in Landscape and Human Evolution is focused on tackling these questions from a landscape based perspective, integrating palaeoanthropology, ecology, remote sensing of modern analogues and both earth and computer science. The Institute collaborates with computer animators to bring science alive in the imaginations of both scientific and non-scientific audiences.

Research at the Institute looks at reconstructing both the landscape signals embedded in hominin habitat records, and reconstructing hominin habitats and land use from the Pliocene Epoch through to the present day. In addition, it examines the interplay between climate and dynamic landscape processes, and their role in guiding human evolution.

The Institute creates numerical models to explore the effects of dynamic landscapes and climate change on observed patterns of human evolution to help understand the fundamental biological processes involved. By finding out more about how landscape has influenced human evolution, it is possible to better understand how and why certain species became extinct, while others survived.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

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University affiliation(s)

Bournemouth University
Poole