Dr Laura Van Holstein

Biography

Junior Research Fellow

Clare College • Cambridge, UK • 2022 - 2025

Ph.D Biological Anthropology

University of Cambridge • Cambridge, UK • 2017-2021

Thesis Title: Branching out: a comparative analysis of determinants of mammalian speciation

Research into the demographic determinants of speciation in extant mammals (focusing on primates) and extinct hominins using comparative phylogenetic methods. Major results include a role for shifts in subspecies diversification rates underlying the evolutionary replacement of major strepsirrhine clades by anthropoids, unexpected positive diversity-dependent speciation in Homo, and a novel, process-based framework for hominin taxonomy

B.A. Human, Social, Political Sciences: 1^st Class

University of Cambridge • Cambridge, UK • 2013-2016

Biological Anthropology track; papers taken included Primate Behaviour, Human Evolution, Behavioural Ecology
Awarded Archaeology Departmental Prize for best undergraduate exam performance and Archaeology Departmental Prize for best undergraduate dissertation
Awarded St. John’s College Larmor Award for “outstanding intellectual qualifications, moral conduct and practical activities”.

I am an evolutionary biologist interested in the macroevolution and evolutionary ecology of our own lineage, hominins. The evolution of the traits that set humans apart from other animals, such as cumulative culture and complex technology, have long been the focus of research. However, the macroevolutionary processes that shaped our evolution, and particularly how they compare to those of other animals, have received far less attention. How “unique” were hominin macroevolutionary dynamics? I address this question by placing our lineage in an unusually broad comparative sample—all mammals. My research is conceptually and methodologically broad, and includes mammalian macroevolution, comparative phylogenetic methods, primatology, palaeoanthropology, and ancient DNA.

Key Publications

Key publications

van Holstein, L. A., & Foley, R. A. (2024). Diversity-dependent speciation and extinction in hominins. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1-11.
van Holstein, L. A., McKay, H. D., Pimiento, C., & Koops, K. (2024). Multidimensional primate niche space sheds light on interspecific competition in primate evolution. Communications Biology, 7(1), 647.
van Holstein, L., Foley, RA., 2022. A process-based approach to hominin taxonomy unites ‘lumpers’ and ‘splitters’ to shed new light on hominin speciation. Evolutionary Anthropology.
van Holstein, L., Foley, RA., 2020. Terrestrial habitats decouple the relationship between species and subspecies diversification in mammals. Proc. R. Soc. B 287: 20192702.
van Holstein, L. 2019. Early Definitions of Species. Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science.
van Holstein, L., 2019. Darwin on Speciation. Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science.
Posth, C., Wißing, C., Kitagawa, K., Pagani, L., van Holstein, L., Racimo, F., Wehrberger, K., Conard, N.J., Kind, C.J., Bocherens, H. and Krause, J., 2017. Deeply divergent archaic mitochondrial genome provides lower time boundary for African gene flow into Neanderthals. Nature Communications, 8, p.16046.
van Holstein, L. and Foley, R.A. 2017. Hominin Evolution. Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science.

Job Titles

Junior Research Fellow, Clare College

General Info

Available for consultancy

Research Expertise / Fields of study

Paleoanthropology

Human Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology

Human Evolution

Contact Details

lav22 [at] cam.ac.uk

Affiliations

Person keywords

Diversification

Mammalian evolution

Hominin speciation

Subjects

Biological Anthropology

Themes

Human Evolutionary Studies

Geographical areas

Africa

Biography

Research

Key Publications

Job Titles

General Info

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