RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Slow it down: evolution of human metabolism over two million years
A1 Prado‐Nóvoa, Olalla
A1 Zorrilla Revilla, Guillermo
A1 Howard, Kristen R.
A1 Laskaridou, Eleni
A1 Marinik, Elaina L.
A1 Davy, Kevin P.
K1 Total energy expenditure
K1 Homo
K1 Physical activity levels
K1 Body mass
K1 Evolución humana
K1 Human evolution
K1 Antropología física
K1 Physical anthropology
AB Previous estimates of the total energy expenditure (TEE) of fossil hominins have assumed vigorous to very vigorous physical activity levels (PALs) when reconstructing their daily energy budgets. However, these PALs are not common for current hunter-gatherers and other subsistence economy populations. The purpose of this study is to reassess the evolution of TEE in the Homo genus by applying predictive equations recently evaluated based on body mass (BM). These equations were applied to 112 individuals of Homo erectus sensu lato, Homo antecessor, Mid-Pleistocene Homo, Homo neanderthalensis and fossil Homo sapiens. Our results suggest that the use of vigorous PALs for past hominins would overestimate their daily energy budgets by approximately 8.4 MJ/day compared to current populations. Furthermore, metabolic acceleration and deceleration linked to changes in BM have likely occurred over the past 2 Mya. These shifts could have been related to the ability of certain species to use exosomatic energy. The use of the predictive models presented here can be an asset to modelling past energetic dynamics and populations’ ecology.
PB Taylor and Francis
SN 0891-2963
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11376
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11376
LA eng
NO The work was supported by the MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the FSE+ [JDC2023-051295-I]; VirginiaTech Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos
RD 11-may-2026