ARCH 131

T/F: all offspring of a homozygous dominant parent and a heterozygous parent will exhibit the dominant form of the trait in question

T

what does spermatogenesis result in?

4 viable sperm cells

what is the results of meiosis?

either 4 sperm cells (spermatids) or 1 egg

what is encephalization?

an increased ratio of brain to body size

of the early primates from the Miocene Epoch, which most resembles modern orangutans?

Sivapithecus

what are the four sub-disciplines of anthropology?

-physical/biological anthropology
-archeology
-linguistics
-cultural anthropology

what is physical/biological anthropology?

the study of human biological evolution and human remains

what is archeology?

the study of past cultures through their material culture that survives in the archeological record

what is linguistics?

the study of languages; study the role of languages in culture

what is cultural anthorpology?

the study of living cultures

Who was Irish Archbishop James Ussher?

-1581-1656

-claimed the world began in 4004 BC (On Oct 23rd on a Sunday at 9 am)

-Believed Earth was created 6k years ago

What was found in the Feldhofer Cave (Germany) in 1856 and by whom?

Neanderthal bones; found by Johann Fuhlrott who gave the bones to Herman Shaaffhausen

Who was Rudolf Virchow?

-1821-1902
-father of modern pathology
-Claimed that Neandrethal bones presented by Fuhlrott and Shaaffhausen were regular human bones with bone pathology

what were the 3 important changes in thinking about the natural world?

-extreme age of earth
-extreme age of human history
-the mutability of organisms (evolution)

who was James Hutton?

-1726-1787
-geologist
-came up with law of uniformitarianism

what is the law of uniformitanism?

geologically ancient conditions were the same as or 'uniform to' those of today

(underlying system to how places are formed)

who was Charles Lyell?

-father of geology
-1797-1875
-claimed Earth is 300 million years old ("extreme antiquity of the Earth", 1835)
-claimed Earth was really old, but initially claimed people have only been around 6k years, argued against evolution

who was Boucher de Perthes?

-1788-1868
-Geologist in France, found stone tools in Somme River, 1841
-First to really try and publicize findings but no one took him seriously

Who was Hugh Falconer?

-joined forces with Boucher de Perthes to create a presentation of their claims. Found that the tools were created by humans long ago.

what is Lamarckianism?

belief in inheritance of acquired characteristics

what did Geroge Cuvier (1796-1832) believe in?

catastrophism: catastrophes such as Noah's arc would eradicate life and be replaced by moving species

what did Charles Darwin contribute to knowledge of Evolution?

mechanism for how evolutionary processes work

Who independently came up with natural selection other than Darwin?

Alfred Russell Wallace

who was Thomas Henry Huxley? (1825-1895)

-Darwin's Bulldog
-anatomist who helped Darwin through his own debating skills and intellect, educated public on how Darwin's theory works in practice

Who was Eugene Dubois?

1858-1940, dutch physician

Found first remains of homo erectus in SE Asia.

T/F: Arthur Keith (1866-1955) & Marcellin Boule (1861-1942) did not believe that Neanderthals were our ancestors

T; thought that humans are SPECIAL

T/F: homo sapiens have bigger brains than Neanderthals

F

what was one of the arguments made by Keith & Boule in support of humans being "Special"

that we have bigger brains and walk erect

what would be a more realistic term for "survival of the fittest"?

survival of the fit enough

What can be inferred from skeletal pathology?

-nutrition/nutritional stress
-diseases such as arthritis
-specific physically demanding behaviours like archery
-social structure (high vs. low status)

what can be inferred from injuries/breaks

-you can tell if people survived breaks if the bones had healed
-frequency of breaks may indicate occupation
-indication of violence

what can be inferred from bone chemistry analysis?

by grinding bones up, can get idea of the diet of a person
i.e. high nitrogen isotops\= high meat diet

what is strontium?

chemical that occurs in different concentrations in different rocks/regions; makes its way into water, plants - anything that drinks water/eats plants will have similar level of strontium in their bones

bones will show strontium levels that align with the region from which you lived

what is taxonomy?

the science of naming and classifying organisms

Who was Carl Linnaeus?

1707-1778
-created the binomial classification system

-classified organic life into ever increasing general life

what is the binomial classification system (from broadest to most specific)?

kingdom
phylum
class
order
family
genus
species

what is the binomial classification of modern humans?

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order Primata
Family Hominidae
Genus Homo
Species Sapiens

what is evolution?

a change in the frequency of a gene or a trait in a population over multiple generations

what is adaptation?

a trait that increases the reproductive success of an organism, produced by natural selection and in the context of a particular environment

Define culture

the sum total of learned traditions, values, and beliefs that groups of people (and few species of highly intelligent animals) possess.

why is the dichotomy between biological and cultural influences on humankind false?

because biology produced culture; but culture can also influence biology

what is biocultural anthropology?

the study of the interaction between biology and culture, which plays a role in most human traits

what is paleoanthropology?

the study of the fossil record of ancestral humans and their primate kin

what is osteology?

the study of the skeleton

what are anthropometrists?

first generation of biological anthropologists; made detailed measurements of the human body in all its forms which is still relevant today

what is paleopathology?

the study of diseases in ancestral human populations

what is bioarcheology?

the study of human remains in an archaeological context

study the effects of trauma, epidemics, nutritional deficiencies, infectious diseses

what is forensic anthropology?

the study of the identification of skeletal remains and the means by which the individual died

called into war crime investigations

what is primatology?

the study of nonhuman primates and their anatomy, genetics, behaviour, ecology

i.e. Jane Goodall & Dianne Fossey

what do nutritional anthropologists study?

the interrelationship of diet, culture, and evolution

what is biomedical anthropology?

the study of how human cultural practices influence the spread of infectious disease and how the effects of pollution/toxins in the environment affect human growth

what is molecular anthropology?

genetic approach to human evolutionary science; seeks to understand the differences in the genome between humans and their closest relatives (nonhuman primates)

who was John Ray (1627-1705)?

-minister at Cambridge University

-naturalist who came up with species concept

-defined species as similar members of a group that CAN successfully interbreed with each other

-categorized members of different species into genus

who is mostly accredited for taxonomy and binomial nomenclature?

Linnaeus

who was the first person to really embrace evolution and try to come up with a theory about how evolution works?

Lamarck

what is a megatherium?

a giant sloth :)

Which animals in the Galapagos clued Darwin into natural selection?

Finches & Tortoises

T/F: Evolution is a theory

F; it is a demonstrable fact

T/F: Natural selection is a theory

True; the dominant theory by which it is believed evolution works

what are the 6 fundamental premises of natural selection?

1. more offspring are produced by a species than can be supported by naturally available food sources

2. within any one species, with very few exceptions, there exists a significant amount of biological/genetic variability

3. individuals with advantageous traits will have an edge over other members of their species in terms of their ability to survive longer

4. those individuals with traits that will increase their chance of living longer are more likely to reach the age at which they will begin reproducing, are more likely to contribute offspring to subsequent generations

5. traits that are advantageous under current environmental conditions will tend to be passed on

6. over long periods of time, accumulated changes within a species will eventually result in a new species (speciation

What did Thomas Malthus observe in his essay on the Principles of Population (1798)?

-animal populations tend to increase exponentially while food supplies tend to remain stable

-humans used to be subjected to limitation of population growth but became an exception as they began to reduce controls on population growth

T/F: in most species, most offspring survive to reach maturity

F; only a small percentage of offspring survive to reach maturity


this is a FACT of the natural world

which species have little to no genetic variability?

rare species which reproduce asexually (very rare)

T/F: all individuals with advantageous traits will survive longer than those who do not have an advantageous trait

F; it is a tendency, not an absolute.

sometimes best-adapted individuals get unlucky, but overall there is a strong tendency for those with advantageous traits to live longer

what dictates which traits are advantageous?

the environment in which an organism lives

T/F: if environment changes, a once-advantageous trait may become disadvantegous

T

what is speciation?

a long term process through which accumulated changes within a species eventually result in a new species

what is the wild ancestor for all breeds of domesticated cow?

Auroch

what are neutral traits?

of the inherent variability in traits in a species, most represent neither potential advantage nor disadvantage to survival and are not subject to natural selection. Called Neutral traits

T/F: Natural selection only acts on the variation that already exists in a species

T

what's a common misconception about evolution?

that it is moving in a specific, purposeful direction, that it is linear

T/F: we inherit traits brought about by experiences.

F; natural selection only act on genetic variability

this is what Lamarck got wrong about evolution

what is the grandmother hypothesis?

human females have evolved to be able to live long enough to be mothers and grandmothers

thus, females experience menopause starting between ages 45-55

this is advantageous as mother can stick around and take care of her babies instead of DIE because childbirth is DANGEROUS AS F*CK

what is the mortality rate for mothers and babies during childbirth (outside of modern medicine)

10% !!!!

what is microevolution? give an example

evolution that occurs on a small scale with relatively short-term changes

example: chimps & bonobos- only separate for about a million years

what is macroevolution? give examples

largescale differences that develop over a long span of time

i.e. elk vs. moose; squirrels vs. beavers; chimps vs. gorillas

what is phyletic gradualism?

traditional view of speciation- species spread into variety of environments and through geographic barriers or sheer distance, stop interbreeding and very slowly/graudally diverge into new species as they adapt to new conditions

what is punctuated equilibrium?

the hypothesis that evolutionary development is marked by isolated episodes of rapid speciation between long periods of little or no change.

change is caused by new environmental pressure that may cause fairly quick evolutionary change

what fossil record data looks like due to crappy fossil record

what is replacement evolution?

very rare form of evolution

-major climate change causes environment to radically change

-small number of original species are able to adapt to new conditions

-become founding population for subsequent population

-not usually how evolution occurs

-also called anagenesis

what is divergent evolution

common mechanism of evolution and how most speciation occurs

also called cladogenesis

results from species occuring as separate populations that can be subject to different selective pressures

both species continue to exist

what did Aristotle believe in regarding evolution?

-believed in immutability of species- statis and lack of change

-believed life was arranged in an orderly, hierarchical ladder with humans at the top

who claimed that animals of the New World were weaker/smaller than their Old-World counterparts?

Comte De buffon (1707-1788)

what is catastrophism?

belief that there have been multiple creation interspersed by great natural disaster such as Noah's flood

advocated for by Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)

what is uniformitarianism?

the theory that the same gradual geological process we observe today was operating in the past

What are the Galapagos?

2 dozen islands 600 miles off the coat of Ecuador

what is biogeography?

the distribution of animals and plants on Earth

what is adaptive radiation?

the diversification of one founding species into multiple species/niches

who was John Gould?

ornithologist who studied the expedition's collection of finches, realized they could be sorted into different species according to island

what were darwin's 3 observations in On the Origin of Species?

1. all organisms have the potential for explosive population growth that would outstrip their food supply. (idea taken from Malthus)

2. when we look at nature, populations seem roughly stable

3. nature is full of variation. even in one group, every individual is slightly different from other individuals.

what are Darwin's 2 deductions in on the Origin of Species?

1. there must be a struggle for existence. A bullfrog's 100k eggs may yield just 1 adult frog-
2. some of the variations in nature must be favoured, others must be disfavoured- natural selection

what is natural selection?

a filtering process in which unfavourable traits lose the race to more favourable traits

what is fitness?

reproductive success

what are the 3 preconditions necessary for natural selection to work?

1. the trait in question must be inherited
2. the trait in question must show variation between individuals
3. environment must exert some pressure in order for natural selection to act

what is a mutation?

an alteration in the DNA that may or may not alter the function of a cell. if it occurs in a gamete, it may be passed from one generation to the next

what is a Gamete?

a mature haploid male or female germ cell which is able to unite with another of the opposite sex in sexual reproduction to form a zygote.

what is 'blending of traits'?

theory that if two parents exhibit certain traits, their offspring will exhibit a blend or an average of those traits

who recreated Aurochs through artificial selection?

Heckrind - who was inspired by Nazis :/

who was Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)?

an Austrian monk who researched plant hybridization

used garden peas a experimental medium

what is a punnett square?

a diagram that is used to predict an outcome of a particular cross or breeding experiment

what are alleles?

different versions of a gene