Physical Anthropology Midterm

Physical Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Archaeology, and Linguistics

A variation of a specific trait on a chromosome 

• Homozygous: having two of the same versions of a trait
• Heterozygous: having two different versions of a trait

A change in genetic code that occurs when a secquence of a gene is altered.

• Genotype: an organism's hereditary makeup
• Phenotype: an organism's external appearance

The gain or loss of alleles in a population; adaptaion - environmental changes - selection pressures - allele frequencies shift

The exchange of alleles between populations

• Micro-evolution: A short term effects on change in allele frequencies (evolution)
• Macro-evolution: A long term effects on change in allele frequencies (evolution

The patterns of behaviors and beliefs that are learned from and shared by other members of a group. A survival mechanism. 

A social sceince that studies everything about humans throughout time and has 4 subfields which makes it interdisciplinary

An individual's way is the best and only way to do something (bedouins).

Understanding other cultures.

Paleoanthropology, Forensic Anthropology, Osteology/Paleopathology, Evolution, Primates, Genetics/Molecular Anthropology, Aliometry, Medical Anthropology/Epidemiology

• The theory that only advantaged organisms can and will survive.
• Variations accumulate over long spans of time and distinctions from ancestors
• Populations respond to pressures
• Species have common ancestors

Gametes; every cell but eggs and sperm that reproduce by mitosis.

• Meiosis is the reproduction of sex cells
• Mitosis is the reproduction of any other type of cell

• 1. Inheritance is particulate- Traits are inherited as discrete units
• 2. Law of Segregation- Traits don't disappear even if they aren't visible
• 3. Law of Independent Assortment- 1 set of genes does not affect another; indepedently inherited genes = random assortment

A sequence of DNA in a chromosome; make proteins

• Dominant genes are expressed, one allele will achieve visibility over another weaker (recessive gene)
• Recessive genes are hidden and must of two of the same to be expressed (no dominant in that field)

The law of acquired traits; traits are passed to offspring. 

A sugar, a phosphate group, one of four nitrogenous bases

A form of RNA that carries the DNA code to the ribosome during protein synthesis.

A form of RNA essential to the assembly of a protein. 

To govern all physical characteristics except sex determination.

The development that leads to homologous structures.

• Allopatric
• Parapatric 
• Sympatric

Itrequires complete reproductive isolation within a population leading to geographic separation from ancestral population

Only partial reproduction isolation is required; Ranges of populations may be partially overlapping

Occurs completely within one population with no reproductive isolation; not well supported by contemporary evidence and is the least significant of the models

The traditional view of evolution that emphasized that change accumulates gradually in evolving lineages

Evolutionary change proceeds through long periods of stasis punctuated by rapid periods of change.

Occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species; traits with two or more alleles.

Hypothetical set of conditions in a population in which NO evolution (change in allele frequencies) occurs: Infinitely large population (to eliminate the possibility of random genetic drift or changes in allele frequencies due to chance); Mating is random; Natural selection isn’t selecting for or against any traits; no mutation or gene flow to change allele frequencies.

The most important factor in the evolution of primates.; Prehensile hands & forward-facing eyes are adapted to climbing in the trees.

Primates may have first adapted to shrubby forest undergrowth and the lowest tiers of the forest canopy; Forward facing eyes enabled primates to judge distance when grabbing for insects

Primates may have fed off of flowering plants (angiosperms)?

Vertical climbing and leaping, terrestrial quadrupedalism, knuckle walking, brachiation, prehensile tails

• Approx. 70 species found in a wide range of arboreal environment; outward facing noses; size, diet and ecological adaptation vary; some possess prehensile
• tails; all diurnal, except owl monkey; quadrupedal, except spider monkeys are semibrachiators; most live in mixed-sex groups of all ages

• Habitat ranges from tropical jungle to semiarid desert to seasonally snow-covered areas; Cercopithecidae: Cercopithecines- More omnivorous with cheek pouches, arboreal, mostly found in Africa, Colobines- Mainly eat leaves; •most are quadrupedal and primarily
• arboreal; ischial callosities, hardened skin on buttocks; sexual dimorphism