Was human evolution caused by climate change?

According to a paper published in Science, models of how animal and plant distributions are affected by climate change may also explain aspects of human evolution.

The approach takes existing knowledge of the geographical spread of other species through the warming and cooling of the ice ages to provide a model that can be applied to human origins.

"No one has applied this knowledge to humans before," said Dr John Stewart, lead author on the paper and researcher at Bournemouth University.

"We have tried to explain much of what we know about humans, including the evolution and extinction of Neanderthals and the Denisovans (a newly discovered group from Siberia), as well as how they interbred with the earliest modern populations who had just left Africa. All these phenomena have been put into the context of how animals and plants react to climate change. We're thinking about humans from the perspective of what we know about other species."
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Journal Reference:
J. R. Stewart, C. B. Stringer. Human Evolution Out of Africa: The Role of Refugia and Climate Change. Science, 2012; 335 (6074): 1317 DOI: 10.1126/science.1215627
ScienceDaily

Link 2: 18-03-12. ¿La evolución humana fue causada por el cambio climático?
Según un artículo publicado en Science, los modelos de cómo la distribución de animales y plantas se ven afectados por el cambio climático también puede explicar los aspectos de la evolución humana.
El enfoque dispone de los conocimientos existentes sobre la distribución geográfica de otras especies a través del calentamiento y enfriamiento de las edades del hielo para proporcionar un modelo que puede aplicarse a los orígenes humanos...