About this Research Topic

Background

Reconstructions of diet provide valuable insights into the ecology and evolutionary history of animals and humans in the fossil record, and the history of relationships between animals and humans. Reconstruction of past diets allows tracking numerous ecological and behavioural aspects through time and across diverse geographic areas, such as, but not limited to: trophic position, niche sharing and niche partitioning, past vegetation, migration patterns, ontogenetic and individual diet choices, and adaptations to changing environment. It also is a useful tool to track climatic change. More broadly, these insights are key to reconstructing and understanding the structure, composition, and function of past ecosystems. Multiple approaches have been proposed to infer paleodiets, including the integration of multiple proxy approaches.

We aim for this Research Topic to be a forum to report studies of paleodiet reconstruction, outline and/or apply new or improved methodologies or integration of methods, discuss the broader implications of findings, and identify avenues for future research. Contributions studying a wide variety of taxa, proxies, and timescales are welcomed. This volume goal is to present results from a broad range of applications spanning tooth wear, functional morphology and stable isotopes aiming at identifying gaps in the current knowledge but also future perspective and innovations.

The scope of this Topic covers studies of paleodiet of any taxon (taxa) and chronological period(s). Contributions can include Original Research, Reviews, Methods, Perspectives, and Opinion pieces. Specific research themes include but are not limited to:
• Tooth micro- and mesowear analyses
• Comparative anatomy
• Isotopic analyses
• Biomechanical analyses
• Functional morphology
• Diet and its quantification
• Ancient food chains
• Paleoecological or Paleoenvironmental reconstructions

Keywords: paleodiet, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, Isotopic analyses, fossil record, evolutionary history

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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