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Human Evolution Midterm > Definitions > Flashcards

Definitions Flashcards

1
Q

What is anthropology?

A

The study of all aspects of the human experience

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2
Q

What are the four subfields of anthropology?

A

cultural anthropology
linguistic anthropology
biological anthropology
archaeology

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3
Q

What is pre-existing variation?

A

traits which can be passed to off-spring

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4
Q

What is inheritance?

A

capable of being passed to off-spring biologically

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5
Q

What is reproductive success?

A

a measure of the number of surviving off-spring an organism has

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6
Q

What is phenotype?

A

observable, measurable characteristics of an organism

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7
Q

What is morphology?

A

the internal and external form and structure of an organism

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8
Q

What is phylogeny?

A

the evolutionary history of a group of organisms

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9
Q

What is ancestral trait?

A

characteristic found in an ancestor and all (or most) of its descendants

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10
Q

What is derived trait?

A

characteristic found only in one descendent branch and not in the ancestral form

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11
Q

What is shared derived trait?

A

characteristic found in more than one, but not all, descendant forms and not in the common ancestor

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12
Q

What is a gene?

A

segment of DNA that contains the sequence for a protein

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13
Q

What is a chromosome?

A

complex structures that house the supercoiled DNA in the nucleus

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14
Q

What is mitosis?

A

the process of cell division and replication

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15
Q

What is meiosis?

A

the production of gametes (haploid cells)

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16
Q

What is recombination?

A

shuffling of maternal and paternal chromosomes during meiosis

17
Q

What is a codon?

A

a three-nucleotide sequence in which the DNA’s triplet code is written onto the mRNA

18
Q

What is a protein?

A

building blocks of organic life

19
Q

What is an amino acid?

A

building blocks of protein

20
Q

What is an allele?

A

a variant sequence of nucleotides in a gene; a form of a gene

21
Q

What is homozygous?

A

the state of having the same allele at both loci for the same gene

22
Q

What is heterozygous?

A

the state of having different alleles at both loci for the same gene

23
Q

What is population?

A

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

24
Q

What is nonrandom mating?

A

pattern of mating in which individuals mate preferentially with certain others

25
Q

What is the founder effect?

A

evolutionary process in which a small group of individuals account for all of the genetic variation in a large population

26
Q

What is niche construction theory?

A

the modification of niches by organisms and the mutual interactions between organisms and environments

27
Q

What is allopatric speciation?

A

mode of speciation that involves a separation and isolation of populations of the parent species

28
Q

What is the difference between paleospecies and living species?

A

paleospecies is a species defined on the basis of fossil evidence
living species we can study their mating patterns to decipher between species

29
Q

What is comparative primatology?

A

the study of our closest living relatives, the primates, for the purpose of understanding aspects of our own behavior

30
Q

What is home range?

A

area used by a primate group or community

31
Q

What is dominance?

A

set of relationships that results in different relative abilities to acquire desired resources

32
Q

What is altruism?

A

acting in a way that has a net loss of energy to the actor and a net benefit in energy to the receiver

33
Q

What is matrifocal?

A

based on the mother as the head of the family

34
Q

What is estrus?

A
  • behavioral and physiological sexual receptivity

Human Evolution Midterm (1 decks)

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