Definitions Flashcards
What is anthropology?
The study of all aspects of the human experience
What are the four subfields of anthropology?
cultural anthropology
linguistic anthropology
biological anthropology
archaeology
What is pre-existing variation?
traits which can be passed to off-spring
What is inheritance?
capable of being passed to off-spring biologically
What is reproductive success?
a measure of the number of surviving off-spring an organism has
What is phenotype?
observable, measurable characteristics of an organism
What is morphology?
the internal and external form and structure of an organism
What is phylogeny?
the evolutionary history of a group of organisms
What is ancestral trait?
characteristic found in an ancestor and all (or most) of its descendants
What is derived trait?
characteristic found only in one descendent branch and not in the ancestral form
What is shared derived trait?
characteristic found in more than one, but not all, descendant forms and not in the common ancestor
What is a gene?
segment of DNA that contains the sequence for a protein
What is a chromosome?
complex structures that house the supercoiled DNA in the nucleus
What is mitosis?
the process of cell division and replication
What is meiosis?
the production of gametes (haploid cells)
What is recombination?
shuffling of maternal and paternal chromosomes during meiosis
What is a codon?
a three-nucleotide sequence in which the DNA’s triplet code is written onto the mRNA
What is a protein?
building blocks of organic life
What is an amino acid?
building blocks of protein
What is an allele?
a variant sequence of nucleotides in a gene; a form of a gene
What is homozygous?
the state of having the same allele at both loci for the same gene
What is heterozygous?
the state of having different alleles at both loci for the same gene
What is population?
cluster of individuals of the same species who share a common geographical area and find their mates more often in their own clusters than others
What is nonrandom mating?
pattern of mating in which individuals mate preferentially with certain others
What is the founder effect?
evolutionary process in which a small group of individuals account for all of the genetic variation in a large population
What is niche construction theory?
the modification of niches by organisms and the mutual interactions between organisms and environments
What is allopatric speciation?
mode of speciation that involves a separation and isolation of populations of the parent species
What is the difference between paleospecies and living species?
paleospecies is a species defined on the basis of fossil evidence
living species we can study their mating patterns to decipher between species
What is comparative primatology?
the study of our closest living relatives, the primates, for the purpose of understanding aspects of our own behavior
What is home range?
area used by a primate group or community
What is dominance?
set of relationships that results in different relative abilities to acquire desired resources
What is altruism?
acting in a way that has a net loss of energy to the actor and a net benefit in energy to the receiver
What is matrifocal?
based on the mother as the head of the family
What is estrus?
- behavioral and physiological sexual receptivity
