Lesson 4 Flashcards
What is evolutionary mismatch
Evolutionary mismatch occurs when traits that were once adaptive become maladaptive due to rapid environmental or cultural change.
Reasons for evolutionary mismatch
Sudden environmental shifts.
Migration to new environments.
Cultural or technological advancements.
Potential outcomes from mismatch
Environment changes again and realigns with trait.
Population adapts through evolutionary selection.
Population suffers reduced fitness or extinction.
Adaptive lag
it describes cases where the rate at which humans adapts to their environment is slower than the rate of environmental change, leading to a mismatch.
Examples of mismatch
Peppered Moth: Shift in pigmentation after the Industrial Revolution as a direct response to pollution.
Jewel Beetle: Mistook beer bottles for potential mates due to environmental changes, demonstrating maladaptive trait expression.
Hunter-gatherers
Mobile, egalitarian, low population density, broad and flexible diets.
Low environmental impact, slow birth intervals (long times between births).
Agricultural transition
Domestication of plants and animals (~11,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent;southwest Asia).
Development of sedentary lifestyles, permanent housing, pottery, and storage.
Not a sudden revolution—evidence of complexity and food storage predated agriculture.
The “Neolithic package”
Gordon Childe thought the
following emerged at the
same time
– Domestic plants and animals
– Ground stone tools
– Pottery
– Permanent houses
Natufians
Modern day Israel- promoted seventies, stone architecture, formal cemeteries
Wild vs domesticated wheat
Wheat evolved not to shatter and spread itself with the development oof tool use. As wheat become more processed, tools were developed to smash and grind it
The pottery Neolithic
Introduction of pottery; started with grain storage but developed further into artistic representation
Pastoralism; herding of goats, cattle (happened around this time)
So did urban and rural settlements (development of culture)
Niche colonization
the process where a biological community or a single population of a species occupies a habitat, territory, or ecological niche, either by adapting to new environmental conditions or when unoccupied habitats become available
A trap of agriculture development
: Large population sizes require a
consistent food supply with surpluses =
Agriculture
The negative of of agriculture
- Heavy reliance on low-nutrient staple crops (grains and starches).
- Increased risk of crop failure and starvation.
- Spread of zoonotic and infectious diseases due to higher population density and proximity to animals.
- Social inequality, and hierarchies related to land ownership.
-warfare
Positives of agriculture
- increases environmental productivity (supports many more people in one area)
- increases fertility, birth stacking ( mothers can wean children earlier)
- demographic expansion
- control over natural world, sedentary living in larger groups (removes many natural threats)
- food surpluses in good times
Agricultureal health impacts
Increased prevalence of:
- Dental issues (caries, enamel hypoplasia).
- Nutritional deficiencies (e.g., iron-deficiency anemia, rickets).
- Infectious diseases (tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy).
Skeletal and dental markers provide evidence of declining health post-agriculture.
- rickets (vit d deficiency, cribbage orbiitalia( iron deficiency), porotic hyperostosis )
Reframing discordance
The discordance model oversimplifies ancestral environments.
Evolution has continued post-agriculture and post-Industrial Revolution.
Cultural evolution is not just a source of mismatch but also enables better environmental fit.
