Arch131 Midterm

Fixity of species

No evolution, god created them as they are

Apomorphic Traits

New or derived trait, first appears in the species in question, ex: nonprehensile feet in humans

What do researchers need to do when they dig up a new fossil?

Decide if it’s a new species, new genus, or if the fossil is another example of an already discovered specimen

Phylogeny

Actual evolutionary relationship between different organisms

Taxonomy

Process of classifying organisms based on available data, about phylogenetic relationships: with living organisms and some fossils we can determine a lot of things about them using DNA to get more data, different groups in taxonomic system are referred to as different taxa

Chimp post crania

Long arms, short legs, long narrow pelvis, prehensile hands and feet, narrow deep rib cage

Chimp cranium

Brain size 300-400cc, robust brow bridge, alveolar prognethism, canine pillar, u shaped teeth row, small molars and premolars, large incisors, v large canines

Hermann Shaaffhausen

Pro-evolution, recognized remains as different than modern human, fossils are proof humans evolve over time too

Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902)

Anti-evolution, said that the human remains found were modern

James Hutton (1726-1797)

Law of uniformitarianism, said there are rules to geological formalities

Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

Earth at least 300 million years old, formation of Earth’s crust happened over time, forces molding earth have happened throughout history over time

3 Major changes needed to occur in view of natural world

Extreme age of Earth, Extreme age of humans as a species, mutability of organisms: evolution

Archaeology

Study of (usually) past cultures through part of their material culture that survives in archaeological record

James Ussher (1581-1656)

calculated 4004 BC was when Earth was created by god, denied evolution

Physical and Biological Anthropology

Human biological evolution and variability (paleontology, primatolofy)

Where did modern science start?

Europe

What was development of science in Europe like?

Biblical, questioning the Bible is heretical, massive social inequality, 6000 year old Earth (4004 BC)

when was the enlightenment?

Mid 1600s to early 1800s

The Enlightenment

Science born through Humanism, Liberalism, Rationalism, Empiricism

Humanism

Ethics should be based on logic, empathy, and reason, not supernatural stuff

Liberalism

Value of individual life and freedom, respect, reason, etc

Rationalism

Knowledge gained through logic and rational thought

Empiricism

Knowledge comes from experience and observation

Free speech

Individuals are free to develop hypothesis but others are free to criticize them

Peer review

Researchers review each other’s hypotheses

Empirical testing and standards of evidence

Hypothesis are tested against data from natural world

Recognition of inherent bias

Methods developed to avoid these issues

Advance of natural sciences

Huge advances following Enlightenment, people more aware of biological diversity, world is much older than the Bible says, natural world follows laws that can be understood, inherent natural and cyclical connections between different parts and components of each other in natural world

Advances made in Humanities and social sciences

Huge diversities of people, learn of different cultures and do things differently, reality of the world is nothing like the Bible

Contributions to conditions of the modern world

Increasing health and medicine, lifespan, better tech, less conflict, more democracy

Biological Anthropology contributions to archaeology

Skeletal pathologies, studied remains, nutrition and nutritional stress, learn about diseases through fossils, social structure based on bone

Early research tools

Classification such as taxonomy, classification system for fossils and organisms

Carl Linnaeus

Binomial classification system, didn’t believe in human evolution but classified humans anyways, father of taxonomy

Extreme age of earth

Easiest to prove, law of uniformitarianism, remains from oceans in mountains

Extreme age of humans as a species

People around for millions of years, stone tools found that are extremely old, often found by farmers

Boucher de Perthes

People are incredibly old, looked for fossils, found tools in Somme Valley and river

Hugh Falcones (1808-1865)

Present stone tools and claim as human made, people older than 6000 years old, said many people found these tools

Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet (lamark)

Accepted evolution, first guy we know who was looking for how evolution occurs, thought acquired traits are passed down

Eugene Dubois (1858-1940)

Most successful in finding any missing link between humans and primates, argued bones were in SE Asia, thought he’d become rich and famous

What were people trying to find the missing link to?

The link between apes and people

who found the first bones of homo erectus?

Eugene Dubois

Advances made in Humanities and social sciences

Huge diversities of people, learn of different cultures and do things differently, reality of the world is nothing like the Bible

Marcelline Boulle (1861-1942)

Also biased lends, thought humans were special

Biological Anthropology contributions to archaeology

Skeletal pathologies, studied remains, nutrition and nutritional stress, learn about diseases through fossils, social structure based on bone

George Cuvier

Couldn’t accept evolution because of beliefs, catastrophism and fixity of species, many floods, killed off organisms, then new animals replace them

Is evolution the same as natural selection?

No

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)

Essentially the same theory as Darwin, let Darwin get the recognition, all organic life is subject to evolving through natural selection

The Enlgihtenment

Science born through Humanism, Liberalism, Rationalism, Empiricism

Original Neanderthal

Found in Feldhofer cave, Germany, 1856 by Johan Fuhrott

Johan Fuhltrott

Found original Neanderthal in 1858, says remains are different than modern humans

What caused people to question fixity of species?

Mammoths and other animals not mentioned by the Bible found, from estimates animal breeds, people see they can cause changes in animals, people see how much variety is around them

John Ray

Came up with species and genus, took similar species and put them into genera (genus plural), based on complexity. Believed that fossils were once living things

What’s the most specific classification?

Species

Recognition of inherent bias

Methods developed to avoid these issues

Early research tools

Classification such as taxonomy, classification system for fossils and organisms

Who was the first person trying to explain how evolution works?

Lamark

1700s-1800s

Debate about evolution continues, more evolution for evolution is hard to ignore, species disappear and replaced by similar species

Charles Darwin (1804-1882)

5 year expedition on a boat, observing and researching, theory of natural selection

What was development of science in Europe like?

Biblical, questioning the Bible is heretical, massive social inequality, 6000 year old Earth (4004 BC)

Galápagos Islands

Such different climates and conditions on each island, Darwin could observe evolution on each island

Carl Linnaeus

Believed in fixity of species, faced the connection of all these species and yet still thought FOS existed, included humans in classification, biblical

Theory of Natural Selection

Evolution can’t not occur, 6 premises of natural selection

Are theories ever proven true?

No, they’re always tested as long as they’re not falsified

6 premises of natural selection

1) more offspring produced than can be supported, 2) within any 1 species there is significant amount of biological variability, 3) individuals with advantages will have edge over others in survival 4) Individuals with better traits increase chance of reproducing 5) advantageous traits under current conditions tend to be passed on 6) over long period of time, accumulated changes within species will eventually result in a new species and eventually to a new genus

Speciation

The accumulated differences in a species over a period of time that splits off from the original; often aided by geographic isolation

Other fundamental components of evolutionary process

Of the inherent variability of traits in a species, most are neutral, only a small percent are good or bad and depends almost entirely on the current conditions

Does natural selection act on variation that already exists in a species?

Yes, and it can happen relatively quickly, and can’t pull from anything that isn’t there or move in a specific direction

Micro evolution

Little changes in every generation, slow accumulation of small changes

Macro evolution

Over much bigger space of time and more drastic changes, ultimately results in species that can’t interbreed

How does speciation actually occur?

gradual divergence into new species, change in difference survival pressures, difference in environment from others of the same species or distance of

Fossil record

Lacks intermediate forms between micro and macro evolution, doesn’t show the full story of everything

Punctual equilibrium

Species go through long periods of stasis and then change

Replacement evolution

More rare, parent species goes extinct

Divergent evolution

Branches off from parent species due to variety of environment changes, selective pressures

Anagenesis

when all members of a species occur as a single population, ex: in a single cave

How are traits passed down from one generation to the next? 19th century views of inheritance

Offspring are a blend of parents, but sometimes don’t look like them

Artificial selection

Traits selected not by nature in plants or animals, eventually become new breeds, often for desired traits, domestication

Gregor Mende 1822-1884

Researched plant hybridization in 1850s, interested how hybrids are created and crossed different breeds of flowers and peas,

Mendel’s hypothesis

Each plant contains 2 factors for a trait, and when crossing them, they randomly pass on one factor each to the offspring. When crossing 2 pure strain plants that differ in a trait, each offspring receives a dominant and a recessive factor, when crossing hybrid plants, 50/50 chance that parent contribution will or factor or the other

Homogenous dominant

Having 2 of the dominant form of an allele

allele

Factors for each trait, or alternate form of a trait

Heterozygous

Having 1 dominant 1 recessive form

Homogenous recessive

Having two of the recessive form of an allele

Mono hybrid

Crossing 2 plants that differ only in 1 characteristic

Dihybrid

Crosses where the parent plants differed in 2 different traits

Mendel’s principles

Principle of segregation, of dominance and recessiveness, of independent assortment

Mendel’s principle of segregation

Offspring inherit 1 discrete facto for a trait from each parent, these factors maintain their unique integrity from gen to gen

Mendel’s principle of dominance and recessiveness

Some expressions of a specific trait were dominant over others

Mendel’s principle of independent assortment

Different traits were not inherited together as a package, they are passed down from gen to gen as independent units

Problems with Mendel

Lucked out, happened to have selected traits influenced by a single gene in the chromosome of a pea planted some of his results were contrary to his principle of independent assortment, traits Mendel examined were types that are expressed as discrete categories

When did life first appear?

3.8 bil years ago

When did earth first form?

4.6 bya

When did eukaryotic cells form?

2 bya

Who discovered DNA?

James Watson and Francis Crick

What makes up a nucleotide?

1 phosphate, 1 sugar, 1 nitrogen as base

Who helped Watson and Crick?

Rosalind Franklin

Base pairs

1 single copy of nuclear DNA has 3,200,000,000 base pairs = number of alleles in 600 copies

What are proteins the building blocks of?

Almost all components that make up an animal and set sequences of base pairs of DNA are the coding for specific portions

Mitochondrial DNA

16,600 base pairs,

Gene

Set sequence of base pairs (of the whole DNA sequence) that codes for a specific protein