Biological Anthropology Midterm 2

Paleontology

the scientific study of past life through fossils

Taphonomy

study of what happens to an organism after death

Fossils

preserved remains or impressions of once living things (fossilization process)

Relative dating

determines the relative era of a fossil in relation to other objects around without determining absolute age

Biostrtigraphy

a relatice dating technique that provides the context of a fossil comparied to other object around without refering to absolute age

Absolute dating

determining the precise numerical date or age ranfe of a fossil

Radiometric

a form of absolute dating that dates rocks and organic materials by using known measurable decay rates od radioactive isotopes to determine absolute age

Carbon-14

another form of absolute dating that dates oragnic materials between 70,000- 90,000 years

Potassium- Argon

another form of absolute dating that dates organic materials of any age and can go beyond 90,000 years

Dietary primate adaptations

teeth and jaw shapes reflect diet, and the diet correlates with the size of a primate (fruit, foliage, insects, and gums)

Locomotion primate adaptations

limb lengths depend on locomotor patterns and the size of a primate correlates to their motion (arboreal/ tere\restrial quadrupeds, suspensory, bipedal, leaping, and knuckle- walking)

Paleocene epoch

primate origination, rapidly warming, plesiadapiforms

Plesiadapiforms

arboreal quadrupeds, adaptations for folivory, insectivory, and frugivory; found in North America and Europe (very specious)

Eocene epoch

hot, diversifying, extensive tropical forest, warm weather → dense foliage, all modern mammals and birds with small bodies and nimble limbs

Adapids

lemur like, cat sized, dinural, large orbitals, long snout, frugivores, and folivores

Omomyids

tarsier-like, small body, most >500g, nocturnal, large orbitals, short snout, insectivorous

Arboreal Hypothesis

non-strepdirrhine descended from tarsier-like primates with arboreal movement, nails, and grasping digits, reduced olfaction, increased visual activity, and overlapping vision

Visual Predation

visual adaptations facilitating insect predation, grasping digits, and visual activity

Angiosperm Coevolution

(flowering plants) post p-kg warming → plant diversity, fruit specialization, visual activity, color, grasping digits, arboreal living in branches, and fruit attracts insects, which is an easy protein

Strepsirrhines

Morphology: moist rhinarium, grooming claw, tooth comb, post orbital bar, relatively long rostrum, temporal fossa

Behavioral traits: mostly nocturnal, rely on olfaction, dispersed social groups

Old World monkeys: 25% of all primates, lorises and galagos

Haplorrhines

Morphology: loss of tooth comb + moist rhinarium + grooming claw, larger brain capacity + visual cortex, fused mandible, post-orbital closure, short rostrum

Behavioral traits: mostly diurnal, rely on vision, gregarious, cohesive social systems

tarsiers, monkeys, and apes

Oligocene epoch

dramatic cold shift, cooling, isolation, parapithecids, and pliopithecids

Platyrrihini

new world monkeys, central + south america, prehensile tails, arboreal, wide septum, may lack opposable thumbs, limited mobility, bony ear tube

Spider + howler monkey, marmosets

Catarrhini

old world moneys, Africa + Asia, narrow septum, short or no tails, diverse habitats w/ trees + grounds, terrestrial, more or increased mobility, ring in ear

Baboons, macaques, chimpanzees, and humans

Miocene epoch

victoriapithecids, proconsul, and ape radiation → more grasslands and less forests

Apes

Hominoids

no tail, dorsally placed scapula, short lumbar region, larger cranial capacity, brouad and shallow chest and hips

Cercopithecoids

tail, laterally placed scapula, elongated lumbar region, smaller cranial capacity, deep and narrow chest and hips

Lorisoidea (strepsirrhines)

Lorididae and galagidae

Lemuroidea (strepsirrhines)

lemuroidea, lemuridae, iniidae, cheirogalidae, daubentoniidae, lepilumeridae

Tarsoidea

haplorrhines

Ceboidea (halporrhines)

callitrichidae, pithiciidae, aotidae, cebidae, atelidae

ceropithecoidea

colobinae, ceropithecinae → ceropithicini + papioni

Hominoidea

hylobatidae, hominidae → pongo, gorilla, pan (chimpanzees), bonobos (pan paniscus)

Primate conservation

64% primates are endangered (464/716), threats: hunting, capture, agriculte, and deforestation

Deforestation

palm oil extraction, timber usage, livestock lands, slash and burn agriculture

leading to less primate diversity

habitats

the natural home or environment of an organism, e.g., tropical rainforest, monsoon rainforest, swamp mangrove, woodland savannah, grasslands

layers upon layers of forests, predators have food options and competitors

vegetation, stratification, range use

adaptive radiation

an evolutionary process where one ancestral species diversifies rapidly into many new species each adapted to a different ecological niche

ecological niche

the role and position of a new species within its ecosystem

niche partitioning

allows multiple species to coexist in the same habitat by utilizing different combinations of habitat, diet, and activity pattern

differentiation

the process by which the characteristics of aspects are determined by how and when it utilizes resources

social organization

the demographic composition of a group

mating system

the pattern of reproduction within a social organization

social structure

the types of interactions between individuals in a social organization

dispersed ←→ cohesive

foraging structure

solitary ←→ gregarious

home range

The spatial area groups take up during daily activities, such as foraging, mating, and caring only for specfic amounts of time

life history

the pattern of survival and reproduction events throughout an organism’s lifecycle (allocating resources to various biological processes to balance trade-offs between survival and reproduction

Primates have longer life spans, slower birth and reproduction rates, as well as a slower developmental process due to less developed infants