The DOI matches its Crossref record; 104 of the 104 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Dynamics of Green Sahara Periods and Their Role in Hominin Evolution
Open accessAbstract
Astronomically forced insolation changes have driven monsoon dynamics and recurrent humid episodes in North Africa, resulting in green Sahara Periods (GSPs) with savannah expansion throughout most of the desert. Despite their potential for expanding the area of prime hominin habitats and favouring out-of-Africa dispersals, GSPs have not been incorporated into the narrative of hominin evolution due to poor knowledge of their timing, dynamics and landscape composition at evolutionary timescales. We present a compilation of continental and marine paleoenvironmental records from within and around North Africa, which enables identification of over 230 GSPs within the last 8 million years. By combining the main climatological determinants of woody cover in tropical Africa with paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic data for representative (Holocene and Eemian) GSPs, we estimate precipitation regimes and habitat distributions during GSPs. Their chronology is consistent with the ages of Saharan archeological and fossil hominin sites. Each GSP took 2-3 kyr to develop, peaked over 4-8 kyr, biogeographically connected the African tropics to African and Eurasian mid latitudes, and ended within 2-3 kyr, which resulted in rapid habitat fragmentation. We argue that the well-dated succession of GSPs presented here may have played an important role in migration and evolution of hominins.
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“Other hypotheses further emphasize the ability of natural landmarks such as deserts and oceans to form barriers that isolate populations (Larrasoaña et al., 2013).”
From Dynamics of niche construction in adaptable populations evolving in diverse environments (2023) · cites this paper as Larrasoaña et al., 2013
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Metadata
- Authors
- Larrasoaña, J. C., Roberts, A. P., & Rohling, E. J.
- Affiliations
- Australian National University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Larrasoaña, Juan C.
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2013-10-16
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- e76514
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3797788
- OpenAlex
- W2018031694
- Cited by
- 334
- References
- 104
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 8.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Institutional Archive of Ifremer (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Zaguan (Universidad de Zaragoza) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/I009906/1, NE/H004424/1, NE/E01531X/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil and Environmental Studies
- Keywords
- hominin evolution, monsoon dynamics, insolation forcing, savannah expansion, paleoenvironmental records, paleoclimate, woody cover, precipitation regime, habitat fragmentation, dispersal out of Africa, Holocene, Last Interglacial, North Africa, paleoecology
- MeSH terms
- Africa, Northern, Animals, Climate, Biological Evolution, Rain, Time Factors, Tropical Climate, Hominidae, Ecosystem, Phylogeography
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