Anthro-Exam1

Agricultural Revolution

The transition from hunter-gatherer societies to settled farming, allowing for population growth and increased spread of zoonotic diseases.

Zoonoses

Diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction or explanation.

Theory

A well-substantiated explanation based on evidence.

Intelligent Design Creationism

The belief that life and the universe were designed by an intelligent being, rather than explained by natural processes.

Biocultural Environmental Approach

An approach in anthropology examining how biological and cultural factors interact to shape human behavior.

Example of Biocultural Environmental Approach

The development of lactose tolerance in populations practicing dairy farming.

Anthropocene

A proposed geological epoch reflecting the significant impact humans have had on Earth’s ecosystems and geology.

John Ray

Important for developing the concept of 'species' as groups of organisms capable of interbreeding.

Nicholaus Steno

Introduced the Law of Superposition, stating that the oldest rock layers are at the bottom.

Comte de Buffon

Proposed the idea of deep time, suggesting Earth is much older than previously believed.

Georges Cuvier

Discovered extinction and showed that past life forms were different from today's.

James Hutton

Proposed that Earth is a 'decaying and self-renewing machine' suggesting slow but constant geological processes.

Charles Lyell

Advanced the idea of Uniformitarianism, the principle that current natural processes shaped the Earth in the past.

Jean Baptiste Lamarck

Proposed the theory of the Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics.

Thomas Malthus

Argued that populations grow faster than the food supply, influencing Darwin’s theory of natural selection.

Charles Darwin

Developed the theory of Natural Selection, explaining how advantageous traits increase in frequency over time.

Alfred Russel Wallace

Independently developed the theory of natural selection and focused on biogeography.

Fitness (Evolutionary Terms)

An organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in its environment.

Natural Selection

The process by which organisms with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce.

Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

Lamarck's idea that traits acquired during life could be passed down to offspring.

Catastrophism

The idea that Earth's geological features were shaped by sudden, violent events.

Uniformitarianism

The concept that the same natural processes shaping the Earth today have also shaped it throughout history.