Final Exam Flashcards
(120 cards)
1
Q
James Hutton’s research into the age of the Earth demonstrated that the Earth was ___________.
A
Millions of years old
2
Q
______________ is most powerful as a cause of evolutionary change when operating on small populations.
A
Genetic drift
3
Q
What is the only source of new genetic material (i.e. genes)?
A
Mutation
4
Q
There must be ____________ within a population in order for natural selection to act upon it.
A
Variation
5
Q
Erasmus Darwin, who also recognized that species change over time, was Charles Darwin’s _________.
A
Grandfather
6
Q
Why is the work of Alfred Russell Wallace considered when discussing the Theory of Evolution?
A
He was a scientist and contemporary of Darwin who independently arrived at many of the same conclusions concerning natural selection
7
Q
George Cuvier’s work on fossil elephants of France supported the then-controversial notion of ____________.
A
Extinction
8
Q
Different versions of the same gene are called ___________.
A
Alleles
9
Q
Mendel’s experiments on pea plants demonstrated that _________.
A
Traits inherited from each parent remained distinct (i.e. did NOT blend) in the offspring.
10
Q
Darwin collected some data that he ultimately used to construct his theory while on a five-year voyage aboard the ____________, a British naval vessel that circumnavigated the globe on a mapping mission.
A
HMS Beagle
11
Q
The complete set of genes in an individual cell is called ____.
A
the genome
12
Q
In order for traits to respond to natural selection…
A
they must be heritable
13
Q
Prokaryotes first appeared ___________.
A
3.7 billion years ago
14
Q
Meiosis results in the production of _____.
A
gametes
15
Q
The expression of polygenic traits …
A
is determined by multiple genes in conjunction with environmental factors
16
Q
___________ is the only source of new alleles.
A
mutation
17
Q
_____________ is the force of evolution that is most powerful when acting upon a very small population
A
genetic drift
18
Q
Together, all of the alleles contained within a group of interbreeding individuals is known as __________.
A
the gene pool
19
Q
Changes in the percentage of individuals with specific pigmentations among the ____________ of Great Britain clearly demonstrates how natural selection operates.
A
peppered moths
20
Q
The absence of A and B alleles for blood type among Native American populations is a result of __________.
A
founder effect
21
Q
Race is NOT a viable biological concept because ____________.
A
- ) races account for only a small amount of human biological variation
- ) the distribution of biological traits follow a cline
- ) traits do not agree with their frequency and distribution
22
Q
A cline…
A
is continuous variation that follows a continuum
23
Q
Human brain growth is completed by age ________.
A
6
24
Q
Puberty is marked by _________.
A
menarche (menstruation) in girls
25
Dark skin is likely an adaptation to exposure to high levels of UV radiation from sunlight, because UV rays can cause ________.
skin cancer
26
The strength and mass of bone _________.
vary from person to person depending on their level of physical activity
27
Unlike other animals, humans acquire resources such as food and reproductive partners...
entirely within the context of culture and society
28
Exercise improves physical fitness by contributing to all of the following EXCEPT...
higher cholesterol
29
Low birth rate can result from the mother's...
1. ) malnutrition
2. ) smoking like a chimney
3. ) boozing it up
30
According to the text, females are less able to tolerate heat than males because...
on average, females have a higher body fat content
31
Suspensory locomotion is characteristic of which primate?
gibbons
32
Sagittal crests are pronounced in those primates with massive...
chewing muscles
33
Because they rely heavily on their sense of touch and manipulate items with their hands, most primates have...
nails on all of their fingers and toes
34
Unlike monkeys, apes...
1. ) Don't have tails
| 2. ) Are found only in the Old World
35
Modern lemurs are found only in...
Madagascar
36
Anthropoids include...
monkeys, apes, and humans
37
Which of the following primates have a fully prehensile tail?
spider monkeys and howler monkeys
38
What is the dental formula for lorises and lemurs?
2/1/3/3
39
Which of the following primates has retained a rhinarium?
Lemurs and Lorises
40
The typical dental formula for apes and humans is....
2/1/2/3
41
The Earth is about ______ years old.
4.6 billion
42
In terms of geologic time, when did humans appear on Earth?
very recently
43
In what kind of rock are fossils usually found?
sedimentary
44
which of the following is NOT an absolute dating method?
stratigraphy
45
Which US President reported the discovery of a fossilized ground sloth in Virginia to the American Philosophical Society?
Thomas Jefferson
46
The English surveyor who developed the technique of stratigraphic correlation between regions was
William Smith
47
[T/F] Charles Lyell is considered the father of vertebrate paleontology.
False; father of geology
48
[T/F] Radiocarbon dating relies on an element that has a half-life of 5,730 years. Therefore, it is a useful technique to date materials that are millions of years old.
False
49
Which of the following body parts has the best chance of fossilizing?
teeth
50
[T/F] Dendrochronology relies on a record of tree rings.
True
51
Using direct radiometric dating of ____ provides very accurate dating for many East African Rift Valley hominid sites.
volcanic rocks
52
The first hominids appeared in Africa about _______.
7-6 MYA
53
Where have fossil remains of genus Australopithecus been found?
Africa only
54
The ________ tradition includes the oldest recognizable cultural artifacts--simple stone tools dating to about 2.6 million years ago.
Oldowan
55
In addressing the origin of bipedalism, Charles Darwin focused on the impact of ________.
hunting
56
[T/F] Sahelanthropus is the oldest known potential hominid genus.
True
57
At which site would you be most likely to recover fossil remains of Australopithecus africanus?
Sterkfontein, South Africa
58
About when did the Australopithecine lineage go extinct?
1 MYA
59
Among the living apes, which is humanity's closest relative?
chimpanzees
60
Evidence that genus Orrorin was bipedal comes mainly from which part of the skeleton?
femur
61
The Zhoukoudian fossils belong to which species?
H. erectus
62
There is a well documented fossil record of H. erectus occupation in Europe beginning around _________ MYA.
1.2
63
Australopithecus _____________ has been proposed as the likely direct ancestor of of H. habilis.
ghari
64
Homo habilis used which type of stone tools?
Oldowan
65
H. rudolfensis is most similar in overall morphology to _________.
H. habilis
66
Relative to the australopiths, H. habilis is characterized by ________.
1. ) A smaller face
| 2. ) a bigger brain
67
Who discovered Homo erectus?
Eugene Dubois
68
The Nariokotome skeleton from Lake Turkana is characterized by _______.
shorter arms and longer legs than those of earlier hominids
69
Homo erectus fossils from around the world fall into what date range?
1.8 - 0.3 mya
70
Where is the Dmanisi site located?
Georgia
71
The geographic range of Archaic Homo sapiens included ______.
Africa and Asia and Europe
72
The neanderthal record begins in eastern Europe--at the Krapina site in Croatia--at about what time?
130,000 years ago
73
The first non-modern human fossil to be discovered and recognized as such was the ______.
Neanderthal from Germany
74
Some neanderthal skulls have cranial capacities that are ______ than those of the average modern human.
much larger
75
Analysis of modern human genetic variation suggests that modern humans evolved approximately ______ years ago.
200,000
76
[T/F] The Neanderthal range included almost all of Africa.
False
77
According to the Out of Africa model, the transition from archaic to modern Homo sapiens _______.
Occurred only once, in Africa
78
The Cro-Magnon site is associated with which human cultural period?
The European Upper Paleolithic
79
[T/F] Only Homo sapiens and Neanderthals are known to have deliberately buried their dead.
True
80
All of the following traits suggest a cold adaptation for neanderthals EXCEPT...
a narrow nasal aperture
81
Until about __________ years ago, humans acquired virtually all of their food through foraging.
10,000
82
Which animal was the first to be domesticated by humans?
dog
83
Evidence from China indicates that people were fermenting grapes and rice for wine as early as _________ years ago.
8,000
84
In the late 1960's, who proposed that South African forager societies actually enjoyed more leisure time than their farmer counterparts?
Lee and Devore
85
___________ is the wild ancestor of modern domesticated maize.
teocinte
86
[T/F] Domestication is defined simply as the point where people starting growing plants on purpose.
False; process of converting wild animals or wild plants into forms that humans can care for and cultivate.
87
[T/F] There were no significant changes in people's health as they became more reliant upon agriculture over foraging.
False
88
Which of the following was domesticated in the New World?
Cotton and maize
89
As seen in the fossil record, which of the following diseases has likely afflicted humanity as far back as the beginning of the Holocene?
syphilis
90
What were the 6 big events of human evolution?
1. ) Bipedalism
2. ) Non-honing Chewing Complex
3. ) Material Culture and Tools
4. ) Speech
5. ) Hunting
6. ) Domesticated Foods
91
Bipedalism occurred _____ years ago.
6 million
92
When did a non-honing chewing complex arise?
5.5 mya
93
Describe non-honing chewing.
lacks large, projecting canines in the upper jaw and a diastema, or gap, between the lower canine and the third premolar.
94
Speech occurred roughly ________ years ago.
2.5 million
95
What made hominins capable of speech?
Shape of hyoid bone
96
When did hominins begin to develop tools and material culture?
3.3 mya
97
Hominins began hunting animals about _________.
1 mya
98
Food domestication took place __________ years ago.
11,000
99
Define: Natural Selection
The process by which some organisms, with features that enable them to adapt to the environment, preferentially survive and reproduce, thereby increasing the frequency of those features in the population.
100
Define: Adaptive Radiation
The diversification of an ancestral group of organisms into new forms that are adapted to specific environmental niches.
101
Darwin drew on information from which five disciplines?
1. ) Paleontology
2. ) Demography
3. ) Taxonomy and Systematics
4. ) Geology
5. ) Evolutionary Biology
102
Define: Uniformitarianism
natural processes operating today are the same as the natural processes that operated in the past; coined by James Hutton after studying erosion and deposit build-up
103
Who rediscovered Hutton's idea of Uniformitarianism and subsequently became known as "Father of Geology"?
Charles Lyell
104
Who concluded that fossilized wood belonged to once-living trees?
Robert Hooke
105
__________ pioneered paleontology and comparative anatomy.
George Curvier
106
Define: Catastrophism
The doctrine asserting that cataclysmic events (such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods), rather than evolutionary processes, are responsible for geologic changes throughout Earth’s history; coined by George Curvier
107
______________ presented the binomial nomenclature (genus species) taxonomy of plants and animals.
Carolus Linnaeus
108
_____________ founded demography: only some will find enough food to survive (1798); provided the concept of characteristics advantageous for survival
Thomas Malthus
109
Darwin borrows from Malthus: OBSERVATION 1
For most organisms, every pair of parents produces multiple (sometimes many) offspring.
110
Darwin borrows from Malthus: OBSERVATION 2
For most organisms, the population size remains the same. No increase occurs over time.
111
Darwin borrows from Malthus: OBSERVATION 3
Population is limited by food supply.
112
Darwin borrows from Malthus: OBSERVATION 4
Members of populations compete for access to food.
113
Darwin borrows from Malthus: OBSERVATION 5
No two members of a species are alike in their physical attributes— variation exists.
114
Darwin borrows from Malthus: THEORY OF EVO
Individuals having variation that is advantageous for survival to reproductive age produce more offspring (and more offspring that survive) than individuals lacking this variation.
115
Define: Lamarckism/Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics
theory of evolution through the inheritance of acquired characteristics in which an organism can pass on features acquired during its lifetime, i.e. the organism can "will" itself to change.
116
Define: Gemmules
As proposed by Darwin, the units of inheritance, supposedly accumulated in the gametes so they could be passed on to offspring by blending.
117
Define: Blending Inheritance
An outdated, dis-reputed theory that the phenotype of an offspring was a uniform blend of the parents’ phenotypes.
118
Define: Mutation
A random change in a gene or chromosome, creating a new trait that may be advantageous, deleterious, or neutral in its effects on the organism.
119
Define: Gene Flow
Admixture, or the exchange of alleles between two populations.
120
Define: Genetic Drift
The random change in allele frequency from one generation to the next, with greater effect in small populations.
