LOUAIL Margot
Postdoctoral researcher
Associated member
Main research question
Based on experimental approaches, one of the main objectives of my research is to capture the consumption of different proportions of food resources (similar to fallback foods targeted by early hominins) in the diet of pigs from the ANR projet DIET-Scratches.
I will mainly work on their dental microwear patterns that will notably be combined with biogechemical data.
Topics of study
Fossil suid and primate dental data from the Shungura Formation (Ethiopia) will be studied in the light of these results to better understand their diversity and their evolution in relation with their feeding habits.
This research project will thus contribute to explain the influence of fallback foods on the selection of dental phenotypes among suids and primates, notably among early hominins.
Contact
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, États-Unis
- margotlouail@g.harvard.edu
Iconic publications
Thiery G., Francisco A., Louail M., Berlioz E., Blondel C., Brunetière N., Ramdarshan A., Walker A. Ec., Merceron G. 2024 – Introducing ’trident’: a graphical interface for discriminating groups using dental microwear texture analysis – Peer Community In Paleontology, 4, e90. – DOI: 10.24072/pcjournal.467
Louail M., Souron A., Merceron G., Boisserie J.-R. 2024 – New insights on feeding habits of Kolpochoerus from the Shungura Formation (Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia) using dental microwear texture analysis – PaleorXiv dbgtp, ver.3, peer-reviewed byPCIPaleo – DOI: 10.31233/osf.io/dbgtp
Louail M., Caner L., Neaux D., Ortiz K., Locatelli Y., Cucchi T. 2022 – Identifying the Impact of Soil Ingestion on Dental Microwear Textures Using a Wild Boar Experimental Model – Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory – https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-022-09574-6
Neaux Dimitri, Louail Margot, Ferchaud Stéphane, Surault Jérôme & Merceron Gildas – 2022 – Experimental assessment of the relationship between diet and mandibular morphology using a pig model: New insights for paleodietary reconstructions. The Anatomical Record, 1– 11. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24895
Margot Louail, Stéphane Ferchaud, Antoine Souron, Axelle E.C. Walker, Gildas Merceron 2021 – Dental microwear textures differ in pigs with overall similar diets but fed with different seeds – Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology : Vol. 572, 110415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110415
Merceron G., Kallend A., Francisco A., Louail M., Martin F., Plastiras C.-A., Thiery G., Boisserie J.-R. 2021 – Further away with dental microwear analysis: food resource partitioning among Plio-Pleistocene monkeys from the Shungura Formation, Ethiopia – Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 572, 110414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110414
Louail M, Gilissen E, Prat S, Garcia C, Bouret S, 2019 – Refining the ecological brain: Strong relation between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and feeding ecology in five primate species. Cortex, 118, 262-274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2019.03.019.
Louail M, Prat S, 2018 – Readjustment of the Standard ASUDAS to Encompass Dental Morphological Variations in Plio-Pleistocene Hominins. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris, 30(1-2), 32-48. https://doi.org/10.3166/bmsap-2018-0002.