Knowledge Tree
underground storage organs
Also known as: plant underground storage organs
Facts (10)
Sources
The role of Plant Foods in the evolution and Dispersal of early Humans kernsverlag.com Jul 30, 2022 7 facts
claimModern humans in South Africa were cooking underground storage organs (USOs) by 170,000 years ago.
claimEarly human populations exploited plant carbohydrates such as underground storage organs (USOs) and palm pith, which required roasting and pounding for consumption.
claimChanges in dental morphology, including increased molar size and enamel thickness and decreased shearing quotients in Australopithecus and Paranthropus, suggest a dietary shift toward underground storage organs between 4 and 2 million years ago, as proposed by Ungar (2004) and Laden and Wrangham (2005).
claimNeanderthals across Eurasia consumed a range of plant foods and fungi, including fruits, nuts, wild grass seeds, legumes, underground storage organs (USOs), and mushrooms, as evidenced by microfossils and eukaryotic aDNA preserved in dental calculus.
claimThe rise of hominids can be viewed as an adaptive shift in fallback foods, specifically the consumption of plant underground storage organs (USOs), according to the 2005 study 'The Rise of the Hominids as an Adaptive Shift in Fallback Foods: Plant Underground Storage Organs (USOs) and Australopith Origins' published in the Journal of Human Evolution.
claimThe incorporation of underground storage organs (USOs) into the diet of pre-Homo ancestors began approximately 2 to 4 million years ago.
claimResearchers argue that meat-eating was incorporated into a mixed diet, which potentially allowed for a shift toward the consumption of energy-rich plant resources such as seeds, nuts, and underground storage organs.
Changes in Diet Drove Physical Evolution in Early Humans home.dartmouth.edu Jul 31, 2025 2 facts
claimResearchers propose that later hominins gained regular access to underground plant organs, specifically tubers, bulbs, and corms, which contain oxygen-depleted water and carbohydrates.
claimThe transition to consuming underground plant organs provided a consistent, high-energy food source that supported the population growth and physical size increase of early human species.
Study documents how change in diet drove early human evolution ucalgary.ca Aug 27, 2025 1 fact
claimEarly hominins shifted their diet from primarily fruits, flowers, and insects to starchy grasses, sedges, and underground storage organs such as tubers.