... and speciation of plants and animals throughout time. These shifts in annual rainfall and temperature cause new niches to form in an area while others are removed which catalyze major changes in the flora and fauna of a region. While hominids prior to 2.8 Mya, such as the Australopiths, were primarily living in heavily forested areas where foliage and fruit was abundant, the early Homo specialized in living in a much drier environment (Reed, 1997). It is possible that the climatic shift that occurred at approximately 2.8 Mya caused hominids to move from their woodland habitats to the now more abundant, and drier open environment. While fruits and leave are not as dense in these dry environments, there are food resources such as tubers, which could have provided hominids with high quality food sources. This shift in which foods were eaten as a staple, from leaves and foods that ...

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