Biological Anthropology Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary terms and concepts from a lecture on biological anthropology.

Biological Anthropology

Also referred to as physical anthropology or evolutionary anthropology, is one of the four major subfields of anthropology that looks to the deeper past, exploring where humans came from as a species.

Human Biological Variation

The study of the physical similarities and differences between human populations across both time and space.

Paleoanthropology

Looks at the fossil evidence of humanity’s ancestors along with ancient material culture such as tools and other human artifacts.

Primatology

Examines the behavioral and physical attributes of both living and fossil primates as well as their relationships with their environments.

Genetic Anthropology

A specialized area where, DNA testing is combined with archaeological, historical, and linguistic evidence to reveal the history of ancient human migration or to track human disease.

Forensic Anthropology

A subfield of biological anthropology that applies scientific methods to the analysis of human remains for the purposes of identifying a victim and determining the possible cause of death.

Bioarchaeology

Studies human remains in archaeological settings with a focus on what skeletal material can reveal about the culture, diet, and presence of disease in a population.

Taxonomy

The classification and naming of things. It organizes things into groups based on predefined criteria.

Taxon

A specific subgroup within taxonomy, such as the genus.

Taxa

The plural form of taxon, used to refer to all groups in taxonomy.

Binomial Nomenclature

A structure developed by Carolus Linnaeus that assigns two Latin names to each organism: the genus name and the species name.

Species

A group of organisms with shared characteristics that distinguish them from other groups, often defined based on behavior, genetics, and/or morphology.

Biological Species Definition

A species defined as a group of interbreeding organisms that are reproductively isolated from other groups of organisms.

Ecological Species Definition

A species definition emphasizing the role of natural selection in maintaining species boundaries.

Phylogenetic Species Definition

A species definition stating that a species can be determined by shared possession of one unique characteristic.

Mate Recognition Species Definition

A species defined as a set of organisms that recognize one another as potential mates.

Cells

The basic units of life in all organisms, capable of self-reproduction. Two main types: prokaryotic and eukaryotic.

Prokaryotes

Single-celled organisms, such as bacteria and archaea, without an enclosed nucleus.

Eukaryotes

More complex, multicellular organisms, such as plants and animals, with an enclosed nucleus containing DNA.

Somatic Cells

Eukaryotic cells that make up the structural components of a body, such as tissues, muscles, and organs.

Sex Cells (Gametes)

Eukaryotic cells specifically involved in reproduction, uniting to form a fertilized egg or zygote.

Mitosis

Cellular division of somatic cells, resulting in two daughter cells genetically identical to the parent cell.

Meiosis

Cellular division of sex cells, resulting in four daughter cells each receiving half of the original genetic material from the parental cell.

Genes

The fundamental unit of heredity, best understood as the sequence or ordering of the DNA material that is housed in the nucleus.

Genotype

The genetic material found within an organism's cells.

Phenotype

An organism's observable trait.

Allele

A similar but slightly different form of the same gene that can activate the expression of a specific trait.

Law of Segregation

Mendel’s first law of inheritance, which states that the two alleles for each trait segregate during the formation of gametes and combine at random during reproduction.

Dihybrid Cross

A cross between individuals who differ with respect to two gene pairs (e.g., a plant with round yellow peas and a plant with wrinkled green peas).

Law of Independent Assortment

Mendel’s second law of inheritance, stating that the alleles that code for different traits sort independently of one another during sex cell division (meiosis).

Evolution

Change in the allele frequency within a gene pool that can lead to changes in an organism’s morphology (form and structure) over time.

Great Chain of Being

The traditional idea that nature was fixed and static, arranged by God in a set order with God at the top and humans above animals, plants, and minerals.

Catastrophism

The theory proposed by Georges Cuvier that floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters have been responsible for killing all the animals alive in certain places at certain times.

Principle of Uniformitarianism

Lyell's theory that contemporary geological processes were the same as those that occurred in the past, producing the contemporary geological landscape.

Artificial Selection

The selective breeding of animals to produce traits that humans find useful, commonly associated with the process of domestication.

Allopatric Speciation

Also known as geographic speciation, the evolutionary process that occurs when a group of animals of the same species are geologically separated and develop into separate species.

Natural Selection

A mechanism for “selecting for” certain traits and features of an organism so that the organism can survive to the age at which they reproduce.

Mutation

An alteration in a genetic sequence that results in a variant form; the creative force of evolution.

Genetic Drift

The effect of random chance on a population, notably the way in which it determines whether an individual survives and reproduces or dies.

Gene Flow

The exchange of genetic material between populations and geographic regions.

Allopatric Speciation

A species diverges when two populations become isolated from one another and continue to evolve. This isolation is created by geographic barriers such as mountains, rivers, or oceans.

Sympatric Speciation

Involves species that are descended from a common ancestor and remain in one location without a geographic barrier.

Adaptive Radiation

Seen when one or more species give rise to many new species in a relatively short time.

Ring Speciation

Occurs when several species coexist for a time in a region near one end of a geographic barrier. When part of the population migrates away from the original population (or gene pool) to the other side of the barrier, reproductive isolation results. Reproductive isolation is strongest for that part of the population that is farthest away from the original population.

Gradualism

The traditional view of evolution assumes that morphological, behavioral, and genetic changes occur gradually and accumulate in a single unbroken and unbranching line

Punctuated Equilibrium

The phenomenon of long periods of stasis, or no change, followed by quick periods of change.

Homologous Structures

Structural similarities that may be derived traits, inherited from a common ancestor.

Analogous Structures

Structural similarities that may have developed independently.

Cladistics

The use of cladograms, is a method of visually distinguishing between homologous ancestral and derived characteristics.

Phylogenetic Tree

A model used by modern taxonomists to reveal the complexity and diversity of life and its many branches, based on both physical and genetic evidence.

Primates

Includes humans are characterized by a number of distinct physical features that distinguish them from other mammals

Arboreal Theory

Proposes that primates evolved the traits they did as an adaptation to life in the trees. Specifically, primates evolved thumbs and big toes that are perpendicular to the other digits to help them grasp onto branches.

Visual Predation Hypothesis

Primate features are adaptations for hunting insects and other small prey in the shrubby forest undergrowth and the lowest tiers of the forest canopy.

Angiosperm Theory

The basic primate traits developed in coevolution with the rise of flowering plants, also known as angiosperms.

Strepsirrhini(Prosimians)

Considered to be primitive primates that evolved much earlier than other primates. This suborder includes lemurs and lorises.

Haplorrhini (Anthropoids)

Anthropoids that are broken down into two further infraorders, Simiiformes and Tarsiiformes, and the Simiiformes are further divided into Platyrrhini and Catarrhini.

Geological Eras

Geologists divide deep history into time periods known as eras based on the fossil life forms observed

Fossil

Any remainder of a plant or animal that has been preserved in the earth.

Relative Dating

Calculates the approximate age of a fossil in comparison to other fossil specimens.

Absolute Dating

Calculates the actual biological age of a fossil in years within a range of years.

Stratigraphy

Based on the observation that soil is deposited in successive layers, or strata. The oldest layers of soil (and any artifacts or fossils within them) will appear beneath more recent layers of soil.

Radioactive Isotope

A chemical element that dissipates excess energy by spontaneously emitting radiation.

Hominin

Refers to all species considered to be in direct lineage to humans, which include the genera Homo, Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Ardipithecus

Hominids

Refers to all modern and extinct great apes, which include humans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans and their ancestors.

Bipedal Locomotion

One leg is called the stance leg, and the other is called the step leg. While the stance leg is on the ground, the step leg is off the ground and striding forward.

Valgus Angle

Angling of the femur (upper leg bone) inward which positions the knees and feet under the center of the pelvis.

Gracile

Species had a more pronounced projection of the jaw (prognathism), less flared cheeks with no sagittal crest, and smaller teeth and jaws.