Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32859969›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2020

Species distribution models advance our knowledge of the Neanderthals' paleoecology on the Iranian Plateau.

Masoud Yousefi, Saman Heydari-Guran, Anooshe Kafash, Elham Ghasidian

Abstract readHistorical Article
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Masoud YousefiDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran. yousefi52@ut.ac.ir.
Saman Heydari-GuranStiftung Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, Germany.
Anooshe KafashDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.
Elham GhasidianStiftung Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were distributed across a vast region from Europe to western and Central Asia. The Neanderthals' paleoecology and distribution has been extensively studied in Europe where the species originated. However, very little is known about their paleoecology in south-western Asia. Here, we employed species distribution modelling and 45 Middle Palaeolithic (c. 200,000-40,000 years BCE) sites location associated with fossil and/or lithic artefacts made by the Neanderthals to examine the expansion of the Neanderthals on the Iranian Plateau in south-western Asia. We estimated the niche overlap between Neanderthals and wild goat, wild sheep and Persian gazelle by modelling their past distribution using 200, 143 and 110 occurrence records respectively. The results show that Neanderthals had highest niche overlap with wild goat in the study area. This analysis revealed that the most suitable Neanderthals' habitats in south-western Asia were located in the Zagros Mountains stretches from north-western and western and some isolated patches in the central parts of the Iranian Plateau. The annual precipitation and maximum temperature of the warmest month were the most important predictor of the species' distribution. This finding shows that the southern edge of the Neanderthals distribution was limited by warm summer. Our results provide important information for future field investigations and excavations in the area.

Indexed as

AnimalsArchaeologyAsia, WesternDemographyEcologyEuropeFossilsGoatsHistory, AncientHumansIranModels, StatisticalNeanderthalsPaleontologySheep

Identifiers

PMID32859969
PMCPMC7455561

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.