Fishing for iodine : what aquatic foraging by bonobos tells us about human evolution

Hohmann, Gottfried; Ortmann, Sylvia; Remer, Thomas; Fruth, Barbara

Fishing for iodine : what aquatic foraging by bonobos tells us about human evolution

Files

Hohmann_2-ozwurw30coq63.pdf(862.09 KB)

Date

2019

Authors

Hohmann, Gottfried

Ortmann, Sylvia

Remer, Thomas

Fruth, Barbara

Publication type

Journal article

Publication status

Published

Published in

BMC Zoology ; 4 (2019). - 5. - BioMed Central. - eISSN 2056-3132

Abstract

Background
Expansion of brain tissue and development of advanced cognitive skills are characteristic traits of human evolution. Their emergence has been causally linked to the intake of nutrients that promote brain development and iodine is considered a critical resource. Rich sources of iodine exist in coastal areas and evolutionary scenarios associate the progressive development of brain size and cognitive skills to such landscapes. This raises the question of how early hominins living in continental areas could have met their iodine requirements. One way to explore this question is to use information from hominoid primates as a proxy for the nutritional ecology of early hominins. Bonobos are particularly interesting in this context as they are restricted to the central part of the Congo basin, an area considered to be iodine deficient based on human standards.

Methods
Pooled samples of fruit, terrestrial and aquatic herbs were used to assess mineral content with an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer. Iodine content was measured with the catalytic technique of Sandell-Kolthoff and two separate inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry methods.

Results
Nutritional analyses revealed that the mineral content of aquatic herbs is higher than in other plant foods. Moreover, two species of aquatic herbs consumed by bonobos contain iodine concentrations that are almost equivalent to marine algae.

Conclusions
These data challenge the general notion that the Congo basin is iodine deficient and demonstrate that its lowland forest offers natural sources of iodine in concentrations high enough to prevent iodine deficiency in hominoids and humans.

Subject (DDC)

570 Biosciences, Biology

Cite This

ISO 690

HOHMANN, Gottfried, Sylvia ORTMANN, Thomas REMER, Barbara FRUTH, 2019. Fishing for iodine : what aquatic foraging by bonobos tells us about human evolution. In: BMC Zoology. BioMed Central. 4, 5. eISSN 2056-3132. Available under: doi: 10.1186/s40850-019-0043-z

BibTex

@article{Hohmann2019-12Fishi-56095,
  year={2019},
  doi={10.1186/s40850-019-0043-z},
  title={Fishing for iodine : what aquatic foraging by bonobos tells us about human evolution},
  volume={4},
  journal={BMC Zoology},
  author={Hohmann, Gottfried and Ortmann, Sylvia and Remer, Thomas and Fruth, Barbara},
  note={Article Number: 5}
}

RDF

<rdf:RDF
    xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
    xmlns:bibo="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/"
    xmlns:dspace="http://digital-repositories.org/ontologies/dspace/0.1.0#"
    xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"
    xmlns:void="http://rdfs.org/ns/void#"
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#" > 
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/56095">
    <dcterms:abstract xml:lang="eng">Background&lt;br /&gt;Expansion of brain tissue and development of advanced cognitive skills are characteristic traits of human evolution. Their emergence has been causally linked to the intake of nutrients that promote brain development and iodine is considered a critical resource. Rich sources of iodine exist in coastal areas and evolutionary scenarios associate the progressive development of brain size and cognitive skills to such landscapes. This raises the question of how early hominins living in continental areas could have met their iodine requirements. One way to explore this question is to use information from hominoid primates as a proxy for the nutritional ecology of early hominins. Bonobos are particularly interesting in this context as they are restricted to the central part of the Congo basin, an area considered to be iodine deficient based on human standards.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Methods&lt;br /&gt;Pooled samples of fruit, terrestrial and aquatic herbs were used to assess mineral content with an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer. Iodine content was measured with the catalytic technique of Sandell-Kolthoff and two separate inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry methods.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Results&lt;br /&gt;Nutritional analyses revealed that the mineral content of aquatic herbs is higher than in other plant foods. Moreover, two species of aquatic herbs consumed by bonobos contain iodine concentrations that are almost equivalent to marine algae.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Conclusions&lt;br /&gt;These data challenge the general notion that the Congo basin is iodine deficient and demonstrate that its lowland forest offers natural sources of iodine in concentrations high enough to prevent iodine deficiency in hominoids and humans.</dcterms:abstract>
    <dspace:hasBitstream rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/123456789/56095/3/Hohmann_2-ozwurw30coq63.pdf"/>
    <dc:creator>Ortmann, Sylvia</dc:creator>
    <dc:creator>Hohmann, Gottfried</dc:creator>
    <dc:creator>Fruth, Barbara</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights>Attribution 4.0 International</dc:rights>
    <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://localhost:8080/"/>
    <dc:date rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2022-01-11T08:52:31Z</dc:date>
    <dc:contributor>Remer, Thomas</dc:contributor>
    <bibo:uri rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/handle/123456789/56095"/>
    <dc:contributor>Hohmann, Gottfried</dc:contributor>
    <dc:creator>Remer, Thomas</dc:creator>
    <void:sparqlEndpoint rdf:resource="http://localhost/fuseki/dspace/sparql"/>
    <dcterms:issued>2019-12</dcterms:issued>
    <dcterms:rights rdf:resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"/>
    <dcterms:isPartOf rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/28"/>
    <dcterms:hasPart rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/123456789/56095/3/Hohmann_2-ozwurw30coq63.pdf"/>
    <dc:language>eng</dc:language>
    <dcterms:title>Fishing for iodine : what aquatic foraging by bonobos tells us about human evolution</dcterms:title>
    <dc:contributor>Ortmann, Sylvia</dc:contributor>
    <dspace:isPartOfCollection rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/28"/>
    <dcterms:available rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2022-01-11T08:52:31Z</dcterms:available>
    <dc:contributor>Fruth, Barbara</dc:contributor>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

Refereed

Yes