INVESTIGADORES
GONZALEZ paula Natalia
artículos
Título:
Evolutionary relationships among prehistoric human populations: An evaluation of facial morphometric data employing molecular based genealogies.
Autor/es:
PEREZ S.I.; BERNAL V.; GONZALEZ P.
Revista:
HUMAN BIOLOGY
Referencias:
Año: 2007 p. 25 - 50
ISSN:
0018-7143
Resumen:
The study of evolutionary
relationships among human populations is fundamental to inferring processes that
determine their structure and history. Among the different data types used to
infer such relationships, molecular data, particularly nuclear and
mitochondrial DNA, are preferred because of their high heritability and the low
probability of changes during development. However, although the reliability of
relatedness patterns based on other traits is discussed, except in unusual
circumstances most prehistoric populations remain within the domain of
morphological study. Therefore the primary goal of this study is to test the
reliability of relatedness patterns constructed on the basis of craniometric
data on a regional scale. In particular, we analyze samples from populations belonging
to the Chaco, Pampa, and Patagonia regions of South America for which craniometric and
molecular data are available. We compare a strongly supported relatedness
pattern based on molecular data with the results obtained through
landmark-based and semilandmark-based facial data. The matrices based on
Euclidean distance for morphometric data and DA distances for molecular data
were used to perform principal coordinates analyses and to obtain
reticulograms. Finally, a principal components analysis of all individuals was
performed with morphometric data. The results indicate that ordination analyses
yield slightly different results depending on the morphometric data used.
However, the reticulograms obtained with both landmark-based and semilandmark-based
data allow the separation of the Chubut samples from the Chaco samples, with the Pampa sample in between the others; this pattern
is congruent with molecular-based analyses. As a consequence, our results
indicate that facial morphometric data allow the inference of the structure and
history of the prehistoric populations for the studied region.