Anthro 101 Study Guide Macroevolution and Classification

• Concept for understanding:
• our place in the biological world
• What kind of animal are we and how did we get that way?
• our emergence around 200,000 years ago

• Phyletic Transformation
• Cladogenesis

conversion of a species into a new species over long periods of time

“branching” evolution – splitting of a species

• Allopatric
• parapatric

• Production of new species by branching of existing ones.
• Begins with geographical isolation

• speciation in the context of partially overlapping ranges  
• Example: Papio Anubis, Papio hamadryas, Papio cynocephalus

evolution of a genetically related group of organisms

• expansion and diversification of life forms into new ecological niches.
• lemurs: Lemur separation/Madagascar/ only live in Madagascar

• Two factors:
• 1) Species has to have adaptive potential Some species are more adaptable than others Primates are very adaptable
• 2) Adaptive opportunities

• Groups =taxa
• Taxonomy: classification of organisms according to their relationship and ordering of groups into hierarchies

• Old system based on Phenetic classification
• Today its based on Cladistic classification

Phenetic: based on physical, directly observable similarities or differences between taxa 

Cladistic: taxonomy based on evolutionary descent Typically Genetic “distance” for cladistics classification

• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• species

• Kingdom: Animal
• Phylum: Chordata (has to do with spinal column)
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Primates/primata
• Family: Hominidae
• Genus: Homo
• Species: sapiens

*lowercase species name

• derived from distant early ancestors
• Premolars = 8
• Prehensile hands
• Old world monkeys, apes, and humans

• inherited from a more recent ancestor
• Tail
• Old world monkey have tails
• Apes and humans don’t have tails

• adaption specific to species
• Humans have flat feet because they are fully upright and bipedal
• Monkeys feet can pick things up

• grouping of similar entities
• means for structuring data within groups (similarities) and between groups (dissimilarities)

a specific resource used by species

• Psuedo Extinction
• Gradualism
• True Extinction
• Adaptive Radiation
• Punctuated Equilibrium
• Extinction

• phyletic transformation
• All species last about 4 mil. Years which is avg for all species of life

• gradual change in evolving species over a long period of time
• you can actually see these changes

all members of a species die

expansion and diversification of life forms into new ecological niches

• long periods of no change punctuated by rapid events of change
• Fewer intermediate forms because time is relatively short

loss of a species because all members die