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HEAS Talk
September 16 @ 10:30 - 12:00
The Fate of Primates; Extinction vs Adaption
With the prospect of a sixth mass extinction event looming there has never been a more compelling time to understand species extinction, especially for primates. Looking to the fate of past primates is a good starting point to try and establish what drives extinction and facilitates adaption. Dating, in all its different forms, is the key to understanding the fate of the primates because without a robust timeline we end up look for clues at the wrong time.
In this talk, I will review attempts we have made to define the fate of four well-known primates; Homo floresiensis, in Flores Indonesia, Homo erectus in Ngandong Java, Gigantopithecus blacki in southern China and Homo sapiens in Tam Pa Ling, Laos. I will outline our dating strategy for each area and assess the implications of these resulting chronologies for assessing their collective fates. These examples suggest that whether primates are large or small, whether they have been around for a long time or a short time certain species traits can make them vulnerable or resilient to climatic and environmental changes. A robust dating context helps us to pin-point these potential changes and allow us to assess primate response from a behavioural perspective. These finding have implications for the fate of primates in the future.
Biography
Dr Kira Westaway is a geochronologist recognised for her use of luminescence dating to establish when modern humans dispersed across Southeast Asia en route to Australia. She establishes robust timelines by dating early human and faunal evidence in cave sites across southern Asia and Southeast Asia.
As part of an international research team she provided chronological control for the ‘Hobbit’ discovery at Liang Bua cave, western Flores, Indonesia. She led the team that established chronologies for modern human arrival at the site of Lida Ajer in Sumatra and Tam Pa Ling in northern Laos. More recently she established a timeline for the extinction of Homo erectus at Ngandong and the presence of Denisovans in northern Laos at Cobra Cave. She also led a program of research to understand why the king of all primates Gigantopithecus blacki went extinct in southern China, this research has large implications for megafaunal extinction in Asia and Australia.
She is currently leading an international team attempting to disperse the myths about human dispersals through China and Southeast Asia.
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