ANTHROPOLOGY

Terms
Anthropology: the science that investigates human biological and cultural variation and
evolution; the scientific study of human variation and evolution.

Archaeology: the subfield of anthropology that focuses on cultural variations in prehistoric

populations by analyzing the culture’s remains; the study of human cultural variation and
evolution over time.

Cultural anthropology: the subfield of anthropology that focuses on variations in cultural

behaviors among human populations.

Variations: refers to differences among individuals and population.

Theory: a set of hypotheses that have been tested repeatedly and that have not been rejected;
is a possible explanation for why things are the way they are.

Hypothesis: an explanation of observed facts.

Speculation: a guess about something that is unknown; cannot be tested scientifically and does
not have enough evidence to support it.

Great chain of being: Idea that there is a set order to all life from microbes up to God
and that this order is PERFECT and cannot be changed.

Uniformitarianism: the observation that the geological processes that operate in the world
today also operated in the past.

Intelligent design: the idea that the biological world was created by an intelligent entity and
did not arise from natural processes.

Macroevolution: long-term evolutionary change.

Microevolution: short-term evolutionary change.

Feature:
DNA: the molecule that provides the genetic code for biological structures and the means to
translate this code.

Bases: chemical units that make up part of the DNA molecule and specify genetic instructions.

Chromosomes: a long strand of DNA sequences.

Exon: a section of DNA that codes for the amino acids that make up proteins.

Intron: a section of DNA that does not code for the amino acids that make up proteins.

Gene: a DNA sequence that codes for functional polypeptides or RNA product.

Allele: the alternative form of a gene that occurs at a given locus. Some loci have only one
allele, some have two, and some have many alternative forms. Alleles occur in pair, one on
each chromosome.

Genotype: the genetic endowment of an individual from the two alleles present at a given
locus.

Phenotype: the observable appearance of a given genotype in the organism.

Dominant allele: masks the effect of the other allele in a heterozygous genotype.
Recessive allele: its effect is masked by the other allele in a heterozygous type.

Homozygous: when both alleles at a given locus are identical.

Heterozygous: when the two alleles at a given locus are different.

Mutation: a mechanism for evolutionary change resulting from random change in the genetic
code; the ultimate source of all genetic variation.

Monosomy: a condition in which one chromosome rather than a pair is present in body cells.
Trisomy: a condition in which three chromosomes rather than pair occur in body cells.

Fitness: an organism’s probability of survival and reproduction.

Directional selection: selection against one extreme in a continuous trait and/or selection for
the other extreme.

Stabilizing selection: selection against extreme values, large or small, in a continuous trait.

Balancing selection: selection for the heterozygote and against the homozygotes( the
heterozygote is more fit)

Gene flow: a mechanism for evolutionary change resulting from the movement of genes from
one population to another. Gene flow involves the movement of alleles between at least two
populations, when it occurs, the 2 population tend to become more similar genetically. It caqn
also introduce new variation within a population

Genetic drift: a mechanism for evolutionary change resulting from the random fluctuation of
genes frequencies from one generation to the next.
Leads to the reduction of variation within a population, given enough time. Its effect depends
on the size of the population. The larger the population size, the less change will occur from
one generation to the next.

Founder effect: a type of genetic drift caused by the formation of a new population by a small
number of individuals (amish).The small size of the sample can cause marked deviation in allele
frequencies from the original population.

Anagenesis: the transformation of a single species over time.

Speciation: the origin of a new species.

Ecological niche:

Mitosis: the process of replication of chromosomes in body cells.

Meiosis: the creation of sex cells by replication of chromosomes followed by cell division.

Reproductive isolation: the genetic isolation of populations that may render them incapable of
producing fertile offsprings.

Punctuated equilibrium: a model of macroevolution in which long periods of little evolutionary

change are followed by relatively short periods of rapid evolutionary change.
Homoplasy: similarity due to independent evolution.

Homology: similarity due to descent from a common ancestor.

Primates: the order of primates that has a complex of characteristics related to an initial
adaptation to life in the trees.

Chordata: a vertebrate phylum consisting of organisms that possess a notochord at some

period during their life.

Bilateral symmetry: symmetry in which the right and left sides of the body are approximately
mirror images.

Homeotherm: an organism capable of maintaining a constant body temperature under most

circumstances. Mammals are homeotherms.

Cladistics: a school of thought that stresses evolutionary relationship between organism based
on shared derived traits.

Concepts:

Pre-Darwinian concepts of evolution:

Carl Linnaeus: father of modern taxonomy; organized all creatures using binomial
nomenclature using genus and species.
Lamarckism = first major theory of evolution
James Ussher: Archbishop 17th century, based on biblical writings, concluded that the earth was
less than 6000 years old.
Uniformitarianism: First idea by James Hutton, extended by Charles Lyell

Lamarckian evolution: is the idea that an organism can pass on characteristics that it acquired during
its lifetime to its offspring (also known as heritability of acquired characteristics or soft inheritance). It is
named after the French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829

Soft inheritance
Notion that acquired characteristics can be inherited
Individuals lose characteristics that they don’t need
Individuals inherit the characteristics of their parents

Natural selection: a mechanism for evolutionary change favoring the survival and reproduction of some
organism over others because of their biological characteristics.

Organisms will be born with different characteristics

Organisms with a biological advantage over their peers will
be more successful
They will survive longer (long enough to reproduce). We say
that they have higher “fitness”
Their offspring will inherit their advantageous characteristics
Organisms that can produce more viable offspring will thrive
Survival of the fittest
Natural selection filters genetic variations.
Natural selection does not create new genetic variations, but it can change the relative
frequencies of different alleles.

Evolutionary forces: Four mechanisms that can cause changes in allele frequencies from one
generation to the next:
 Natural selection
 Mutation
 Gene flow
 Gene drift

Science and religion:

Creation science= counter theory to evolution.
Intelligence design

Mendelian Genetics: Observed that the inheritance of traits from one generation to the next
followed certain patterns
Mendalian’s law of segregation: states that sex cells contain one of each pair of alleles
Mendelian’s law of independent Assortment: states that the segregation of any pair of
chromosomes does not affect the probability of segregation for other pair of chromosomes.
The distribution of one pair of genes does not influence the distribution of other pairs of genes

Mendel’s theories:
1. There is a determinant*
(gene) for pea color
2. Each parent contributes one
determining factor to the offspring
3. Factors remain discrete; they do not
blend
4. Factors are either dominant or
recessive

Hardy Weinberg: The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is a mathematical statement relating allele

frequencies to the expected genotype frequencies in the next generation.
DNA replication: The initial molecule separates into two strands; each strand attracts free-
floating complementary bases. The result is two identical DNA molecules.

Remote sensing.

Parallel evolution: Independent evolution of a trait in closely related species. One example
might be the parallel development of large back teeth in several hominid species.

Convergent evolution: Independent evolution of a trait in rather distinct evolutionary lines. The
development of flights in birds and certain insects is an example of convergent evolution.

Soft inheritance
• Notion that acquired
characteristics can be inherited
• Individuals lose characteristics that
they
Soft inheritance
• Notion that acquired
characteristics can be inherited
• Individuals lose characteristics that
they do not need
• Individuals inherit the
characteristics of their parents