ANTH 120 Exam 1: CSU Human Origins & Variation

Closest living nonhuman relatives?

Chimps

What are the 3 things that characterize a scientific theory?

1) Provide a conceptual framework for inquiry 2)Based upon coherent group of principles that explain facts and are verifiable 3)Withstands test of time and new evidence

Scala Naturae (Ladder of Life or Great Chain of Being)

life-forms could be arranged on a scale of increasing complexity and move toward a fixed goal. (GOAL DRIVEN)

Most inclusive taxonomical category...Least?

Domain....subspecies

Discrete (trait)

Distinct, discontinuous, w/o overlap

Linneaus and others believed in....(2 things)

1) Spontaneous generation of new species

2) Species are fixed and immutable

In the 1700s, how old did many scholars think the Earth was? Who were 2 of them?

6,000 y/o...Ussher and Lightfoot

Who cam up w/ the Law of superposition?

Steno & Arduino (Lower rock layers are OLDER than higher layers) DUH.

Who 1st proposed that the Earth was older than 6,000 years?

Hutton...

"We see no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end"

Hutton on "Deep Time"

When was "Theory of The Earth" written? By Whom?

1788

"The present is the key to the past"

Hutton

What principles was modern geology founded upon?

Charles Lyell's "Uniformitarian Principles of Geology"

Who established 1st geological dating technique? Using what evidence?

William SMITH.....Fossil evidence

Biostratigraphy

SMITH. A relative dating technique based on the regular changes seen in evolving groups of animals as well as the presence or absence of particular species

Who founded Modern geology

Charles Lyell

When was "Principles of Geology" published?

Between 1831-1833

1) In 1860, what was the age of the earth estimated at? 2) Currently?

1) 100 million y/o 2) 4.6-5 BILLION y/o

Oldest life on Earth

3.1 BILLION ya

Oldest humans found

4.2 MILLION ya

What were Cuvier's 3 conclusions?

1) fossils=evidence of extinction 2) Past & present communities are not identical 3) Past & present communities are unrelated( FALSE)

Who is associated with Catastrophism?

Cuvier

2 main tenets of catastrophism

1) Catastrophic events cause extinction 2) Un-related organisms replace extent ones

2 pre-darwinian hypotheses

Lamarckism, catastrophism (Cuvier)

What concept did Lamarck NOT support?

Extinction

What did Lamarck get right about evolution? What did he get wrong?

1) species are NOT unchanging 2) the mechanism of evolution (inheritance of acquired traits)

What did Lamarck think about giraffes?

That they "willed" their necks to get longer to reach food in trees (due to env. changes)

Idea of shifting body fluids, and either use or disuse of body parts

Lamarck

What does Lamarckism NOT explain about evolution?

Population variation

"Type" specimen

Ideal representation of a species

What problems did Darwin have w/ "type" specimens?

1) Each individual in a population was slightly different (which one to use as type?) 2) At what point does variation constitute a new species?

What was Darwins best fossil?

Nearly intact giant ground sloth

Toxodon

Fossil of giant rhino-horse-elephant looking that Darwin found in S. America

What geological events did Darwin witness? Where?

Volcanoes, Tsunami, earthquake. Cost of S. America

Did Darwin identify the mechanism of evolution while in the Galapagos?

NO. Not until he returned to England

What convinced Darwin that Lamarckism was wrong?

"The prevalence of variation in nature"

How did Darwin employ ARTIFICIAL selection?

By breeding pigeons

According to Malthus, survivors of "population crash" had______________________

Advantages that non-survivors din't have (Became more fit)

Who can up with "Survival of the Fittest"

Malthus

differential reproduction

organisms with the best adaptations are most likely to survive and reproduce

Natural selection operates on ________species variation that can lead to _________species variation.

INTRA, INTER

As seed-size increased, what happened to the ground finches?

Body size and beak size increased

What accounted for the changes in beak size of the ground finches?

Drought years(mostly large seeds) vs. Normal rain (some small/some large)

Other than environmental stressors, what else caused variation in the finches?

Competition

HMS Rattlesnake

Huxley

What did Huxley study?

Comparative anatomy

What did Huxley hypothesize based on his study of dinosaurs?

That birds evolved from dinos

What did Huxley hypothesize about horses?

They cam from a 5 toed ancestor

Huxley was not a ____________________and did not support the idea of______________

Lamarckian, orthogenesis

Who had an identical concept to Darwin's

Wallace

Social Darwinism

The belief that "survival of the fittest" justified social inequity. Made some humans inferior/superior to others

blending inheritance

Early concept of heredity proposing that offspring possess 100% of each parents genetics that are blended together.

Classical/Mendelian Genetics

Transmission of genes and traits from generation to generation

molecular genetics

the study of the structure and function of chromosomes (DNA) and genes

3 characteristics of "Simple" traits

1) Controlled by single gene 2) discrete (present or absent) 3) Not susceptible to environment

What are these genotypes called? 1) AA 2) aa 3)Aa

1) Homozygous Dominant 2) Homozygous recessive 3) Heterozygous