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Set1

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What is Anthropology?
The study of the humans condition across space and time from multiple perspectives.
What are the four subfields of Anthropology?
Cultural/social, Archaeology, lingustic, and biological
What is science?
A collection of bodies of knowledge and ways of describing, predicting, and manipulating events in the universe.

It also a set of practices and methods designed to challenge and revise preconceived notions about the world w/ logic, reason, and the collection of empirical data.
What is the difference b/t fact and absolute truth?
A fact is something that has been so many times that it is ridiculous to doubt it.

Absolute truth, on the other hand, is just something that is known to be true w/o having to prove it.
What is the difference b/t a theory and a hypothesis?
Theory- a logically consistent conceptual framework that is used as a basis to describe and predict events in the universe

A hypothesis is a carefully worded conjecture derived from a theory that is designed to be tested.

BIG DIFFERENCE: Hypothesis must be tested; theory isn't tested.
What is uniformitarianism?
It is the theory that all geological phenomena can be explained as the result of existing forces having acted uniformly from the origin of the earth to the present time.

Example: The small processes we see everyday (water running down a canyon) will eventually cause a major change (reshaping of the canyon)
What is catastrophism?
Disasters have caused extinctions that create changes in organisms. (not evolutionary processes)
What is Analogy?
Characteristics that have a similar function/appearance but are not necessarily made up of the same elements of anatomy/physiology.
How are bat wings and butterfly wings analogous?
The wings of the bat and butterfly have similar functions (help fly, etc.) but they aren't similar due to shared ancestry. Physically, they are different.
What is Homology?
Similarites between organisms due to shared ancestry.
How are bat wings and your arms homologus?
Bat wings and arms are physically similar due to shared ancestry. Their funtions may be different, but the similarites due to shared ancestry are still there.
What concept did Charles Darwin co-originate and popularize?
Natural Selection- the idea that "only the strong will survive"...adaptations in organisms are necessary for survival over a period of time.
What is the relationship between resources and production?
Malthusianism- reproduction outpaces development of new resources.
What does this malthusianism relationship lead to?
A struggle for existence. Competition for resources means some organisms can not survive to reproduce.
On what kind of variation does natural selection depend to cause evolution?
Heritable variation- heritable novel variants arise in a population that confer advantages and disadvantages in survival and/or reproduction to organisms.

Basically, it refers to inherited traits (related to your parents).
Define evolution
The change in the frequency of genetic variations (alleles) from one generation to the next in a population.
Explain the process of Central Dogma of molecular evolution:
DNA (self-replicating)~~>process of transcription~~>RNA~~>Process of translation~~>Protein
What is a gene?
A strand of DNA that codes from protein. (part of a genome)
What is a locus?
A given location that a particular gene occupies on a chromosome.
What is an allele?
An allele is a variation in genetic material (DNA) at a particular location (locus).
What is meiosis?
Sexual reproduction in animals that leads to the production of gametes.

Recombination occurs in meiosis.
What is mitosis?
Process of cell division in which the nucleus divides into two identical nuclei. So the result of mitosis is two identical cells.
What is mutation?
Spontaneous changes in DNA. It is the ultimate origin of novel genetic variation.
What is the ulitmate source of novel genetic variation?
Mutation
Are all mutations deleterious?
No, most are neutral. They don't confer advantages or disadvantages in terms of reproduction and survival.
What is random genetic drift?
Random changes in allele frequencies across generations due to random sampling in small populations.
Does random genetic variation act more strongly in a small or large population?
It acts more strongly in a small population:

small population~~>more drift~~>become extinct quicker
Explain the Bottleneck
Restricting the number of individuals during breeding(smaller populations)~~> this creates more drift(population crashing).
Explain the Founder Effect
Take a sample of one population and introduce it to another population. After this happens, you start to see characteristics of the small population in the large population.
Explain Gene flow(migration)
The exchange of genetic material between incompletely isolated populations.

Populations become more similar over time.

Gene flow ~~~> more similar populations
Does gene flow between two populations homogenize or diversify their allele frequencies?
It homogenizes their allele frequencies due to the Founder Effect. In order for the frequencies to diversify, heritable variation couldn't exist.
What is adaptation?
A feature of an organism that solves a life problem that evolved by natural selection driven by that problem.
What is Systema Naturae and who wrote it?
A book by Carolus Linnaeus that establishes the ideas of taxonomy. Basically, it's the "bible for taxonomy."
What are the basic units of the Linnaean system of taxonomy?
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
What is the taxonomy of humans?
Kingdom- Animalia
Phylum- Chordata
Class- Mammalia
Order- Primates
Family- Hominidae
Genus- Homo
Species- sapiens
How do you write a binomen?
Genus Name (capitalized and italicized or underlined)

Species name (Italicized or underlined, not capitalized)
Why is the following binomen incorrect?

Homo Sapiens
"Sapiens" shouldn't be capitalized b/c you don't capitalize the species name when writing a binomen.
What does Monophyletic refer to?
A group w/ a common ancestor where all descendants of that ancestor are included within that group. (A&B, or A,B, & C~~> ALL DESCENDANTS)
What does paraphyletic refer to?
A group w/ a common ancestor that excludes one or more descendant. (A&B, but not C)
What is a Synapomorphy?
Shared derived characteristic.
What is a Symplesiomorphy?
Shared ancestral characteristic.
What is the principle of stratigraphic superimposition?
"The rocks found below other rocks are older."
Bipedalism/Bipediality
Walking on two legs as the favored form of locomotion.

New fossils finds indicate that habitual bipedal locomotion originated at least 6 million years ago.
The Great Rift Valley in East Africa
Site of a great deal of volcanism and geological upheaval where the eastern and western parts of Africa are spreading apart.

It is the site of many of the oldest recorded hominid fossil finds.

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