Lecture 5 Flashcards
What did Thorne and Wolooff suggest both fossil and genetic evidence argue?
That ancient ancestors of various human groups lived where they are found today.
What is the Human Genetic tree based on?
Nuclear DNA products
What theory about evolution has surfaced recently that probably isn’t true?
That evolution is a process that happened many times in many places
What does modest gene flow prevent?
Branching speciation, although different populations received different names from paleo-anthropologists
Where did Homo ergaster emerge?
In Africa and it colonized multiple regions of the globe
What did homosapiens evolve from?
Homo heidelbergensis - in africa about 200,000 years ago and it spread worldwide replacing the resident hominins
What did homo heidelbergensis evolve from?
Homo ergaster - spread into europe where the Neanderthal/Denisovan lineage branches off
When did the initial wave of Homo ergaster leave Africa?
Nearly 2 million years ago and became homo erectus in Asia
What determines skin colour?
The demands of photoprotection and the need to photosynthesise Vitamin D - Lablonski and Chaplin 2010
How many faces can a sheep recognise at one time?
50 - they all look very different to each other.
Are the differences between human populations big?
No, they’re very small and so it’s very unlikely that we evolved independently
When can single species develop into several different lines?
If they are geographically isolated or the gene flow between populations blocked by other means
If single species did develop into several different lines, what would the search be focused on?
It would be focused on looking for similarities to gain insights into characteristics of ancestral species and differences to determine influence of local selection pressures.
What are human characteristics that are similar around the world considered?
They are considered to be biological
What are human characteristics that are different around the world considered to be?
Cultural construct. EG. race is a cultural construct. We are all from one stock so nothing to do with genes.
What was population distribution like in the world during Gregorian period?
There are very few in the Americas and most are in India and China
Where has most of the population growth been?
In India and China
What is population distribution like now?
Half the world’s population is in India and China
What do humans face according to different environments?
Different selection pressures
What is the distribution of births in the world?
There are more babies born each year in Africa than are born in the Americas, all of Europe and Japan put together
What are birth problems defined as?
Perinatal conditions - which are those which occur in babies from the seventh month of pregnancy until the baby is a week old.
What percentage of deaths worldwide did birth problems cause in 2002?
4.3% - an average of 396 deaths per million people per year.
Where was the highest rate of maternal deaths?
In Sierra Leone where 2 mothers die per 100 births.
Where reported no maternal deaths in 2000?
Iceland and Malta
What is the world average of maternal deaths?
386 deaths per 100,000 births
How many women die in Africa from child birth?
1 in 7