Objective
Asymmetry is a fundamental biological aspect of all organisms. Cranial asymmetry is regarded as a signature for genetic and developmental instabilities and manifests itself in different aspects of the physiology and morphology. The most conspicuous form of bilateral asymmetry is directional asymmetry (difference between left and right sides of a body part). Understanding the biological processes underlying variability and variation is fundamental to biological anthropology and most other biological fields. The proposed project is the first of its kind to conduct an in-depth quantitative study of cranial asymmetry and bears implications for the evolution and development of human and non-human primate crania. This study will: 1) examine the evolutionary origin of directional asymmetry in hominoids; 2) examine the development of such asymmetric features in a large ontogenetic sample; 3) examine the pattern and degree of asymmetric variation between pathological (microcephalic) and non-pathological humans. The study will use quantitative methods such as landmark-based 3D geometric morphometrics to collect and analyse cranial measurements obtained from living human and non-human apes such as gibbons, orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees. The outcome of this study will bear important implications for paleoanthropology, evolutionary biology and possibly clinical studies on cranio-facial variation.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
MC-ERG - European Re-integration Grants (ERG)Coordinator
72074 Tuebingen
Germany