Rent 9780470452684 | Human Brain Evolution : The Influence of Freshwater and Marine Food Resources | Cunnane, Stephen; Stewart, Kathlyn @knetbooks.com

Summary Table of Contents

A multidisciplinary treatment of the importance of aquatic foods in human brain evolutionThe evolution of the human brain and cognitive ability is one of the central themes of physical/biological anthropology. Based on studies of the modern human brain, certain prerequisites were needed for the development of the early brain and associated cognitive advances. Important prerequisites included polyunsaturated fatty acids and other brain selective nutrients, which are found in highest quantity in fish and shellfish. Early hominins were able to acc... MOREess these foods when frequenting wetlands, particularly lake and river margins. Increased consumption of this high-quality diet over time exaptively diverted energy to the brain, and was a catalyst for brain growth. The later exploitation of marine shellfish and fish is roughly correlated with the emergence of Homo sapiens, and cognitive advance associated with changing human behaviors.Human Brain Evolution: The Influence of Freshwater and Marine Food Resources documents the energy and nutrient constraints of the modern brain, highlighting the significant role of brain selective nutrients in brain development and the evolution of neural systems. There is a particular focus on two long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) in brain development and maintenance-docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA). These nutrients are found in the highest quantity in fish and shellfish, and this volume further discusses fossil, morphological, and isotopic evidence for hominin consumption of these foods over time.The contributors to this volume come from several fields-paleoanthropology, nutrition, neurochemistry, archaeology, and paleobiology-providing a multidisciplinary approach to the complex and challenging topic of the evolution of the brain. The first half of this volume focuses specifically on the biochemical and nutritional requirements of encephalization of the human brain, best acquired opportunistically (exaptively) through consumption of fish and/or shellfish. The second half provides multidisciplinary evidence on the exploitation of initially, freshwater and later, marine fish and shellfish, by successive hominin taxa. These persuasive, thought-provoking discussions and arguments provide the basis for a new perspective and help the reader understand the vital role freshwater and marine foods have in human brain function and, hence, evolution.Human Brain Evolution is essential reading for graduate students, postdoctoral students, and research scientists in physical/biological anthropology, human biology, archaeology, nutrition, cognitive science, and the neurosciences. It is also an excellent supplemental text for biological anthropology or a graduate student discussion seminar.

The evolution of the human brain and cognitive ability is one of the central themes of physical/biological anthropology. This book discusses the emergence of human cognition at a conceptual level, describing it as a process of long adaptive stasis interrupted by short periods of cognitive advance. These advances were not linear and directed, but were acquired indirectly as part of changing human behaviors, in other words through the process of exaptation (acquisition of a function for which it was not originally selected). Based on studies of the modem human brain, certain prerequisites were needed for the development of the early brain and associated cognitive advances. This book documents the energy and nutrient constraints of the modern brain, highlighting the significant role of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) in brain development and maintenance. Crawford provides further emphasis for the role of essential fatty acids, in particular DHA, in brain development, by discussing the evolution of the eye and neural systems.This is an ideal book for Graduate students, post docs, research scientists in Physical/Biological Anthropology, Human Biology, Archaeology, Nutrition, Cognitive Science, Neurosciences. It is also an excellent selection for a grad student discussion seminar.

... MORE

Foreword: Evolution, Encephalization, Environment	p. vii
Introduction	p. xiii
Contributors	p. xix
Macroevolutionary Patterns, Exaptation, and Emergence in the Evolution of the Human Brain and Cognition	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Natural Selection	p. 1
Macroevolution	p. 2
Patterns in Human Evolution	p. 3
Symbolic Cognition	p. 5
Exaptation and Emergence	p. 8
Large Brains and Aquatic Resources	p. 9
References	p. 10
Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Human Brain Evolution	p. 13
Introduction - Lipids and Evolution	p. 13
The Evolution of Complex Life Forms	p. 14
The Language of Lipids	p. 15
DHA	p. 17
Evolution of Homo sapiens	p. 20
DHA and Neural Pathways?	p. 22
A Comment on AA	p. 24
The Third Phase of Earth's Life History - AA and Reproduction in Mammals	p. 25
Darwin and the Conditions of Existence	p. 26
Implications	p. 27
Conclusion	p. 28
Acknowledgments	p. 28
Notes	p. 28
References	p. 28
Human Brain Evolution: A Question Of Solving Key Nutritional And Metabolic Constraints On Mammalian Brain Development	p. 33
Introduction	p. 33
Brain Evolution in Hominins	p. 35
Need for A New Paradigm	p. 38
Brain Development	p. 40
Energy Requirements of the Brain	p. 41
Nutrients and Brain Function	p. 44
Brain-Selective Nutrients	p. 46
Critical Importance of Baby Fat in Humans	p. 52
Gene - Nutrient Interactions	p. 57
Conclusions	p. 59
Acknowledgments	p. 61
References	p. 61
Metabolic and Molecular Aspects of the Critical Role of Docosahexaenoic Acid in Human Brain Function	p. 65
Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) Molecular Structure	p. 65
DHA and Neural Function	p. 66
Metabolic and Biophysical Considerations	p. 68
Functional Importance of DHA in Retinal and Neural Membranes	p. 70
Dietary Need for Preformed DHA	p. 71
DHA Intake During Pregnancy and Lactation: Effects on Higher CNS Functions of the Mother and Infant	p. 73
Summary	p. 74
References	p. 74
Lessons from Shore-Based Hunter-Gatherer Diets in East Africa	p. 77
Introduction	p. 77
Our Genetic Background	p. 78
Adaptation to the Conditions of Existence	p. 79
Western Diets and the Human Genome	p. 81
Brain-Selective Nutrients in Health and Disease	p. 83
Dietary Fatty Acids at the Land-Water Interface	p. 84
Tanzanian Breast Milk Fatty Acids Versus Western Recommendations	p. 89
Estimated Fatty Acid Intakes from Shore-Based Paleolithic Diets	p. 93
Conclusions	p. 96
Notes	p. 97
References	p. 97
Appendix	p. 103
Thyroid Hormone, Iodine and Human Brain Evolution	p. 105
Introduction	p. 105
Thyroid Hormone Metabolism and Function	p. 105
Fetal Development	p. 108
Antioxidant Activity of Iodine	p. 108
Dietary Sources of Iodine	p. 110
Iodine Deficiency Disorders	p. 111
Human Brain Evolution	p. 113
Thyroid Hormone, Iodine, and Human Brain Evolution	p. 117
Conclusion	p. 118
References	p. 119
Food For Thought: The Role of Coastlines and Aquatic Resources in Human Evolution	p. 125
Introduction	p. 125
Food for Thought	p. 126
Human Nutrition and Physiology	p. 127
Archaeological Evidence for the Antiquity of Fishing	p. 128
Conclusions	p. 132
Acknowledgments	p. 133
Notes	p. 133
References	p. 133
The Case for Exploitation of Wetlands Environments and Foods by Pre-sapiens Hominins	p. 137
Introduction	p. 137
Hominid Exploitation of Wetlands Environments and Resources	p. 139
Early Hominins: Colonization of New Environments	p. 144
Plio-Pleistocene Climate Instability and Use of Wetlands Resources	p. 147
Intensification of Wetlands Vegetation Exploitation	p. 149
The Shift to High-Quality Foods	p. 151
Preconditions for Encephalization	p. 155
Precessional Forcing, Drying Lakes/Rivers, and Die-Offs of Aquatic Faunas	p. 157
Mammal Meat: A Later Hominin Adaptation?	p. 158
Postscript	p. 160
Summary	p. 161
Acknowledgments	p. 162
References	p. 162
Brain Size in Carnivoran Mammals That Forage at The Land-Water Ecotone, With Implications For Robust Australopithecine Paleobiology	p. 173
Introduction	p. 173
Methods	p. 177
Results	p. 177
Discussion	p. 183
Acknowledgments	p. 186
References	p. 186
Coastal Diet, Encephalization, and Innovative Behaviors in the Late Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa	p. 189
Introduction	p. 189
Changes	p. 190
Climate Change	p. 196
A New Narrative	p. 198
References	p. 200
Human Brain Evolution: A New Wetlands Scenario	p. 203
Human Brain Evolution	p. 203
Neurochemical and Nutritional Evidence	p. 203
The Fossil Evidence	p. 204
Plausibility, Prediction, and Parsimony	p. 205
Salient Points	p. 206
Conclusion	p. 207
Reference	p. 207
Index	p. 209
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

RENT TEXTBOOKS

Human Brain Evolution : The Influence of Freshwater and Marine Food Resources

Why Rent from Knetbooks?

Top 5 reasons to order all your textbooks from Knetbooks: