New insights into how climate shifts sparked the migration and survival of early humans, revealing the crucial role of environmental adaptation in our evolutionary history. Review: Past climate change effects on human evolution . Image Credit: Daniel Eskridge / Shutterstock In a recent review published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment , researchers discussed the role of climatic shifts and vegetation changes in driving the evolution within the subfamily Homininae, to which humans belong.
They focused on the evolution of hominins during the Pleistocene in Eurasia and Africa, the two areas that have been extensively studied through anthropological and modeling studies. Background Human evolution has been significantly impacted by the climatic shifts that occurred between the beginning of the Pleistocene epoch and the Holocene. These climatic changes included periods of cooling and warming and shifts in dry and wet conditions, which influenced where early humans lived and the cultural and biological adaptations that contributed to their evolution.
Although early Homo species evolved from a common ancestor into several species with larger brains and improved cold tolerance, and spread all over the world, developed tools, and learned to control fire, only one species, Homo sapiens , remains. Climatic models and modern techniques can help understand how early humans responded to changing climates and the role climate played in the diet, migration, adaptation, and e.