Unit 1: Intro to Physical Anthropology & evolution foundation

Unit 1: Intro to Physical Anthropology & evolution foundation

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Summary

1. Introductions

2. Redtape

3. Question: What things make us so unique?

4. Outline of the course

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Course website

https://creason.co/

-Click on the link to this class

Very important for this class

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https://creason.co/

https://creason.co/

Course website and personal

Prof CreasonTransferred from LBCCBA in anthropology from UCLAMA in anthropology from CSUN

-focused on paleoanthropology-Interested in paleopathology and the archaeology of war

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Course website and personal

Prof CreasonTransferred from LBCCBA in anthropology from UCLAMA in anthropology from CSUN-focused on paleoanthropology-Interested in paleopathology and the archaeology of war

Outside anthropology-punk and metal music-illustration-Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of Science-argumentation and debate

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Introduction: What is anthropology?

Instructions:-Form into groups of 3-4-Designate a scribe

Brainstorm:

-Ask: What traits are uniquely human?

-List answers on the scratch paper (just one piece of paper)

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Instructions:-Form into groups of 3-4-Designate a scribe

Brainstorm:

-Ask: What traits are uniquely human?

-List answers on the scratch paper (just one piece of paper)

Now:-Exchange emails-Email your new BFF to make sure they can access the course website

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1. Anthropology - study of humankind

2. Split into four subfields

First: Cultural anthropology -observes societies past and present-patterns of behavior and belief

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1. Anthropology - the study of humankind

2. Four subfields

First: Cultural anthropology -observes societies past and present-patterns of behavior and belief

-Use ethnographies - the study of human societies

Ask: What do we mean by culture?

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1. Anthropology is the study of humankind

2. Four subfields

First: Cultural anthropology -observes human societies past and present-patterns of behavior and belief

-Use ethnographies - the study of human societies

Ask: What do we mean by culture?

Culture: behavioral aspects humans learn and transmit non-genetically from one generation to the next

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2. Four subfields

Second: Archaeology

-Observes/excavates artifacts, ie, the material remains of past cultures

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2. Four subfields

Third: Linguistic Anthropology

-Studies the origins, structure, and function of languages

-Humans uniquely rely on language

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Fourth: Physical Anthropology

-Studies human biology in an evolutionary framework

Biocultural evolution - Emphasize the interaction between biology and culture

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Introduction: What is Physical Anthropology?

Physical Anthropology has its own subfields

-Paleoanthropology-Primatology-Genetics-Osteology

Forensic anthropology - applying anthro to legal issues

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Physical Anthropology has its own subfields



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Physical Anthropology subfields



The anthropological perspective

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Short answer questions and science writing

Instructions (will also be on the test and creason.co)Answer each question in less than three sentences.

Do'sSimplicityJump right in

Do not'sPlagiarize or quote (use own words)Go over three sentences (unless specified)

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Tautologies are statements which are......in themselves redundant."Unsolved mystery" or "ATM machine" or "Please RSVP"

...trivially true.Oh Neo...

...essentially meaningless and/or offer no new information. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Statements that are empty truisms."I like my friends."

Generic examples I've seen:"The scientific method is a method used in science.""Darwin's theory says that only reproductively successful individuals have offspring.""Darwin's theory added to science by contributing new concepts"

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Short answer questions and science writing

Instructions (will also be on the test and creason.co)Answer each question in less than three sentences.

Do'sSimplicityJump right in

Do not'sPlagiarize or quote (use own words)Go over three sentences (unless specified)

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Study Guide-Know what the subfields of anthropology are. Know the subfields of physical anthropology, too.

-Know the different parts and order of the scientific method

-Be prepared to identify the famous thinkers of the scientific revolution and connect them with their contributions

-Be prepared to discuss uniformitarianism, natural selection, fitness, selective pressure, etc. and other concepts.

Key Terms

CultureNatural selectionDisconfirmationReproductive successHypothesisTheoryFixity of speciesCatastrophism 20

Science is about hypothesis testing

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} Analysis OHAT

PrecursorsScientific Revolution - undermined long standing views of nature

-Is there a fixity of species?

-Is the Earth really just 6,000 years old?

Important thinkers

1. Gave us a language

2. Recognized living things are diverse and change - they evolve

3. Established an older planet

Important concepts underlying Darwin's theory22

Classification - the language

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John Ray (1627-1705)-Grouped organisms by reproductive viability-First to use "species" and "Genus" Carolus Linnaeus

(1707-1778)-Binomial Nomenclature

E.g., Homo sapiens, Tyrannosaurus rex, etc.

-Taxonomic classification of biological organisms

Change - the relationship between environment and organism

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Comte de Buffon (1707-1788)-Plants and animals interacted with the environment-Environmental changes correlated with changes in plants and animals

Precursors - Dynamic Biology

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Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829)-Species alter their characteristics to meet their environment.-First to really attempt and explain evolutionary process

Precursors - Ancient age of the Earth

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Charles Lyell (1797-1875)-Father of modern geology

Uniformitarianism: The gradual processes happening today were the same in the past.

Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)-Extinction-Catastrophism

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Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)-populations grow exponentially -food supplies/production grow arithmetically-populations outgrow food supply - survival of individuals dependent on access to food supply or resources

Alfred Wallace (1823-1913)-Independently generated the

concept of Natural Selection-Father of Biogeography

Precursors - Environment influences organisms

Charles Darwin - the beginning-heavily influenced by these thinkers

*5 year voyage on the HMS Beagle

-What he observed informed his theory explaining why things change.

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How Darwin changed the natural sciences

Darwin's theory of natural selection explains what guides evolutionary change

Took all the best parts of theories posited by the thinkers we just surveyed and made one that we still use today.

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Natural Selection - Initial requirements

Individuals with favorable variations --> survive and reproduce at higher rates

1. Populations grow faster than the growth of available resources.

2. Populations have differential variation among members

3. More offspring are produced than survive due to competition for resources.

4. Individuals with favorable traits (speed, disease resistance, size) are more likely to survive* than individuals without those traits.

Fitness - A relative measure of reproductive success.

*Not who can live the longest but who can survive long enough to reproduce.

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Natural Selection5. Favorable traits determined by environmental context

6. Offspring resemble their parents - favorable traits are inherited

Reproductive success - favorable traits are inherited and become more common.

7. This favorable variations accumulates in a population over many generations so newer generations are distinct from ancestral generations.

New species emerge

8. Geographical isolation - populations become geographically isolated and over time they respond to selective pressures - different ecological contexts - to become distinct species.

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Natural Selection in ActionReproductive success - favorable traits are passed on with a higher frequency compared to less advantageous traits which decrease in frequency over time.

Selective pressures - Environmental forces influencing the reproductive success of individuals in a population.

Fitness - A relative measure of reproductive success.

Adaptations - The evolutionary shifts in the variation of traits in a population in response to environmental changes..

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Natural Selection in ActionPeppered Moths

Industrial melanism in populations of peppered moths documented.

Shifts of pigment pattern frequencies in response to the change in the environment.

Such responses are called adaptations.

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Natural Selection in Action - FinchesWHAT: Galapagos island finch population

-Beak thickness changed over time

-a favorable trait (thicker beaks) confers a selective advantage in a population over time.

-thick beaks had greater reproductive success during droughts.

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Natural Selection in Action - Finches

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Finches competed for limited resources

Members of finch population varied in beak size

E.g., 13 species among the Galapagos Islands

Natural Selection - Insights Gained from examples

1. Traits are inherited - otherwise natural selection cannot act

2. Populations of individuals exhibit biological variation of characteristics-Selection also only works on pre-existing variation!

3. Fitness is relative - it changes relative to environmental change-Finch beak size correlated with extended periods of drought on the islands

4. Natural selection only acts on traits that affect reproduction-Traits expressed after an organism reproduces are not influenced by natural selection

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Natural Selection - Main Points*Darwin was able to recognize that it was variation among the individuals of a population that contributed to the change in a species over time.

Think about clones.

Natural selection operates on individuals but it is the population that evolves

Unit of Natural Selection - Individual

Unit of Evolution - Population

Individuals don't change genetically but overtime populations do.

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Common Ancestry - Finches

Evolution demonstrated in the finch populations found on the Galapagos islands

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Common Ancestry - Finches

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Issues with Darwin's Evolutionary Theory

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???

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John Ray (1627-1705)-Identified reproductive isolation of species-First to use "species" and "Genus"

Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)-Binomial Nomenclature-Taxonomic classification of biological organisms

Comte de Buffon (1707-1788)-Plants and animals interacted with the environment-Changes in the environment correlated with changes in plants and animals

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829)-Species change influenced by environmental change-First to really attempt and explain evolutionary process

James Hutton (1726-1797)-First to use Uniformitarianism-the processes we see today to explain the geological history of our planet

Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)-Extinction-Catastrophism

Charles Lyell (1797-1875)-Father of modern geology-The processes happening today were the same in the past:Uniformitarianism

Alfred Wallace (1823-1913)-Independently generated the concept of Natural Selection-Father of Biogeography

Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)-Populations grow exponentially while food supplies/production grow arithmetically-Populations outgrow food supply - survival of individuals dependent on access to food supply or resources

Precursors Recap

Documents

Unit 1: Intro to Physical Anthropology & evolution foundation