Rebecca Rogers Ackermann

archaeology dept, beattie building, room 3.19

phone: +27 21 650-2356

fax: +27 21 650-2352

email: becky.ackermann AT uct.ac.za

back to department home

Curriculum vitae (.pdf file)

Courses lectured: AGE2011s Human evolution; Archaeology honours programme (Introduction to archaeological statistics); BIO1004s Biological diversity; BIO3001F Vertebrate zoology.

_______________________________________________________________________________

My research interests centre broadly on the relationship between phylogenetic divergence and morphological variation, and I study both living and ancient systems in order to understand this relationship.  Although the presence of a close relationship between variation and evolution has long been acknowledged by those who study the human past, there has been surprisingly little systematic study of intraspecific variation in primates and little attempt to connect this knowledge in a methodologically rigorous fashion to what we know from the fossil record.  Some of the questions that interest me include: Do patterns of morphological variation among extant primates differ?  Are any differences more likely to be the result of random evolutionary processes (e.g. genetic drift) or natural selection?  When ontogenetically does such morphological divergence in variation patterning occur, and how can we use this to understand the developmental evolutionary divergence of primates?  How does gene flow among populations affect patterns of morphological diversity?  Should we expect to be able to detect gene flow (hybridization) in the fossil record?  These are big questions which cross taxonomic boundaries, and my work has focused on myriad groups, including apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos), monkeys (baboons and tamarins), and humans, as well as Plio-Pleistocene members of our lineage, including australopiths and early members of the genus Homo.   Part of the reason for this breadth is that different questions in human evolution require different extant models.  For example, baboon models are particularly well-suited for understanding the morphological effects of hybridization among closely related – but genetically distinct – taxa that have diverged in the Plio-Pleistocene.  Alternatively, chimpanzees are probably better models for considering modularity and integration in early hominins.  Although I have engaged in field work, both palaeoanthropological and primatological, the bulk of my research takes place in museums and institutions within sub-Saharan Africa (including the Transvaal Museum and the National Museums of Kenya) as well as across Europe and the United States. 

Selected publications:    

Ackermann RR (2010) Phenotypic traits of primate hybrids: recognizing admixture in the fossil record. Evolutionary Anthropology. In press.

Ackermann RR, JS Brink, S Vrahimis, B de Klerk (2010) Hybrid wildebeest (Artiodactyla: Bovidae) provide further evidence for shared signatures of admixture in mammalian crania. South African Journal of Science. In press.

Ackermann, RR and JM Bishop (2010) Morphological and molecular evidence reveals recent hybridization between gorilla taxa.  Evolution. 64:271-290. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00858.x.