Macroevolution and Human evolution Flashcards
Proteins
- a change in proteins can create new species
- humans and monkeys have overlapping genetic material
Macroevolution
Large scale evolutionary changes
Life on Earth
- Life has existed on Earth for 3.5 billion years. At around 1.5 billion years ago was when eukaryotic cells evolved
- The question of abiogenesis is a matter of active research today
abiogenesis
the formation of life from non-living matter
Biodiversity
decreases in population slowly and gradually increases biodiversity
how does decreases in pop increase biodiversity
- genetic dift, etc are corrlated with small pop size (bigger results)
- if mass exicticntion occurs it will cause most adpated species to survive
- whoever is left is gentically fit
- not all is catalysmic (world damaging)
Phylogeny
evolutionary relationship between different groups of species of organisms
Cladograms
show the phylogeny of groups of organisms.
Use the presence of (recently evolved) traits to determine how closely organisms are related.
Gradualism
- Small changes in species over time that accumulate
- Appear very similar to ancestor
Punctuated Equilibrium
- Overall, evolution is slow but is occasionally punctuated by periods of rapid change.
- New species evolve rapidly, often in small isolated populations.
Primates
- a small group of mammals
- Large brains relative to body size
- Forward-directed eyes
- Flexible hands and feet
- Arms that can fully rotate
- Many have opposable thumbs
- Most have tails
What makes humans different?
- Large brain relative to body size; high ordered thinking
- Hands capable of fine manipulation and coordination; fine motor movemnets
- Bipedal; walking on two feet
Fossil record
- Hip bones, feet, leg bones show if a species walked upright
- Skull shows changes in brain size
- Corroborating evidence includes creation and use of tools
Migration Routes
- All early hominids evolved and lived in Africa.
- H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens all migrated at different times in history
DNA remnants
DNA sequencing of Neanderthal bones have found there are small sequences of Neanderthal DNA found in some populations of modern humans