Population kinetics across the Indo-Pacific region : submitted in fulfillment of a Masters in Philosophy, Massey University, New Zealand
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Date
2014
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Massey University
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Abstract
No abstract. The following is taken from the outline:
The Pacific region provides a natural system to study complex admixture. From a
broad perspective, there were two waves of settlement; the first 45,000 years ago
(Melanesian), and the second, approximately 5,000 years ago (Asian) [1]. According
to recent research, Asian ancestry does not decline gradually across Island Southeast
Asia, but instead dramatically decreases, forming a cline [2]. There are several
hypotheses explaining why there is a drastic, but not gradual, change in genetic
ancestry proportions (Asian to Melanesian) across the region. One of these is a steep
change in environmental conditions in Eastern Indonesia, which complicates rice
cultivation [3]. Another explanation can be the switch from matri- to patriarchal social
systems [4]. The main goal of this project is to explore demographic factors, such as
migration and selection, to see if they can explain the genetic ancestry distribution.
The main theoretical question that I will answer is: what is the reason behind the
steep change in genetic ancestry proportion across eastern Indonesia? One of the
reasons behind this could be cultural selection, although selection is just a hypothesis
and the process might be selectively neutral.
Anthropological data from the region are quite sparse, and this leads to the second
goal of the project: to infer the history of modern Pacific populations using
genetic data.
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Keywords
Population, Indonesia, Population, Pacific region, Population, Indo-Pacific region, Population history, Indo-Pacific region, Genetic ancestry changes