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Adaptation and Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record

  • Chapter
Reconstructing Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record

Part of the book series: Advances in Primatology ((AIPR))

Abstract

Few topics in functional morphology have been discussed as extensively with so little consensus as adaptation. Controversies swirl around both theoretical and methodological issues in the study of adaptation. Persistent questions concern definitions of adaptation, criteria for recognizing adaptations, and how to integrate phylogenetic and functional data. Here we review debates about how one identifies an adaptation, discuss recent developments in the study of adaptation, and focus on how these relate to our ability to reconstruct behavior in the fossil record. In keeping with the theme of this volume we will take our examples from the vast literature on primate functional anatomy, a resource that in many respects is more extensive and detailed than that for other orders of mammals. At the same time we will draw on the literature of other animals to introduce perspectives on the study of adaptation that have not been considered extensively by primatologists, but which hold considerable promise for future research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomical Sciences, Health Sciences Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, 11794-8081, New York, USA

    Callum F. Ross, John G. Fleagle & William L. Jungers

  2. Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287-4101, USA

    Charles A. Lockwood

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  1. Callum F. Ross
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  2. Charles A. Lockwood
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  3. John G. Fleagle
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  4. William L. Jungers
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA

    J. Michael Plavcan

  2. Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Richard F. Kay  & Carel P. van Schaik  & 

  3. Department of Anatomical Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, USA

    William L. Jungers

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Ross, C.F., Lockwood, C.A., Fleagle, J.G., Jungers, W.L. (2002). Adaptation and Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record. In: Plavcan, J.M., Kay, R.F., Jungers, W.L., van Schaik, C.P. (eds) Reconstructing Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record. Advances in Primatology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1343-8_1

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