Evolution and Ecology

The Evolution and Ecology theme engages both biological anthropologists and archaeologists in research that addresses topics including the evolution of human behavior, cognition, and morphology, primate origins, human evolutionary ecology, adaptation to the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, and primate behavioral ecology.

Given wide-ranging interest in these issues, this theme engages anthropology faculty and students with other departments and schools of the university and with the broader public.

Take a look at the ongoing reseach page for more information on current research projects related to this theme.

Recent publications

  • 2022. Kubicka, Anna Maria, Wragg-Sykes, Rebecca, Nowell, April, and Nelson, Emma. Neanderthal Sexual Behaviour. In The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology, Volume 4, edited by Todd K. Shackelford. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • 2021. Nowell, April, Kurki, Helen and Mitchell, Lisa M. Conceiving reproduction in archaeology. In Routledge Handbook on Anthropology and Reproduction, edited by Sallie Han and Cecelia Tomori. London: Routledge, pp. 68-84.
  • 2022 - Reeder-Myers, L. A., T. J. Braje, C. A. Hofman, E. A. Elliot Smith, C. Garland, M. A. Grone, C. Hadden, M. Hatch, T. Hunt, A. Kelley, M. J. LeFebvre, I. McKechnie, I. J. McNiven, B. Newsom, T. Pluckhahn, G. M. Sanchez, M. Schwadron, K. Y. Smith, T. Smith, A. Spiess, G. Tayac, T. Vollman, E. M. Weitzel, and T. C. Rick. 2022. Indigenous oyster fisheries persisted for millennia and should inform future management. Nature Communications 13:2383 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29818-z
  • 2022 – Duffield, S. J. Walkus, E. White, I. McKechnie, Q. Mackie, D. McLaren. Documenting 6,000 Years of Indigenous fisheries and settlement as Seen through vibracore sampling on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. American Antiquity 87(1):168-183  https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2021.113
  • 2021 – Henson, L.H., N. Balkenhol, R. Gustas, M. Adams, J. Walkus, W.G. Housty, A. Vik Stronen, J. Moody, C. Service, D. Reece, B. VonHoldt, I. McKechnie, B.F. Koop, C.T. Darimont. Convergent geographic patterns between grizzly bear population genetic structure and Indigenous language groups in coastal British Columbia. Ecology and Society 26.(3). https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12443-260307
  • 2021. Riede, Felix,  Walsh, Matthew J., Nowell, April, Langley, Michelle and Johannsen, Niels N.  Constructing the niches of and for innovation. Play objects and object play from a niche construction perspective. Evolutionary Human Sciences 2.  https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2021.7
  • 2020 – McKechnie, I., M. L. Moss, and S. J. Crockford. 2020. Domestic Dogs and Wild Canids of the Northwest Coast of North America: Animal Husbandry in a Region without Agriculture? Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 60:101209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101209
  • 2020 - Nowell, April and Kurki, Helen. Moving beyond the obstetrical dilemma hypothesis: Birth, weaning and infant care in the Plio-Pleistocene.  In The Mother-Infant Nexus in Anthropology: Small beginnings, significant outcomes, edited by Sian Halcrow and Rebecca Gowland.  New York: Springer, pp. 173-190.
  • In Review-  Longman D, Murray A, Roberts R, Oakley S, Stock JT, Wells J. Energetics as a driver of human morphological thermal adaptation; evidence from female ultra-endurance athletes. Proc Royal Soc B.
  • 2020 - Murray AA, Stock JT. Muscle force interacts with stature to influence functionally-related polar second moments of area in the lower limb among adult women. Am J Phys Anthropol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24097 
  • 2019 - Macintosh AA, Stock JT. Intra-limb variation in lower limb bone functional adaptation to loading among living women: Implications for identifying locomotor variation in the past. Am J Phys Anthropol 168:566-581.   https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23773
  • 2018 - Fedje, D., D. McLaren, T.S. James, Q. Mackie, N.F. Smith, J.R. Southon, and A.P. Mackie, "A Revised Sea Level History for the Northern Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada.” Quaternary Science Reviews 192:300–316. 
  • 2018 - Payne S, Kumar BC, Rajendra, Pomeroy E, Macintosh AA, Stock JT. Thrifty phenotype vs cold adaptation: Trade-offs in upper limb proportions of Himalayan populations of Nepal. Royal Soc Open Sci 5:172174. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172174
  • 2018 - Pomeroy E, Macintosh AA, Wells JCK, Cole TJ, Stock JT. Relationship between body mass, lean mass, fat mass, and limb bone cross-sectional geometry: Implications for estimating body mass and physique from the skeleton. Am J Phys Anthropol 166:56-69. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23398