Biological Anthropology Questions And
Answers
How did the influences from the fields of geology, paleontology, taxonomy, and demography
shape Darwin's and Wallace's idea of natural selection? Darwin drew from many different
disciplines to create his theory of natural selection. He utilized t...
How did the influences from the fields of geology, paleontology, taxonomy, and demography
shape Darwin's and Wallace's idea of natural selection? Darwin drew from many different
disciplines to create his theory of natural selection. He utilized the ideas of Hutton and Lyell
from geology to demonstrate the great age of the planet and ideas about the development of the
landscape. From paleontology, he was influenced by the idea that many past life-forms are now
extinct. Demography influenced his theory especially in regard to birth, survival, and death, and
major factors that influence these key parts of life. All of these disciples contributed to his
overall theory of evolution by natural selection.
By the mid-twentieth century, four forces of evolution were defined. Briefly describe each of
these forces and their effects on variation both between groups and within groups. The
four forces of evolution are mutation, natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow. When a
<mutation> occurs, this is the only source of new genetic variation in the population, and there
are three possible types of mutations: point mutation, frameshift mutation, and transposable
elements. Mutation increases within and between group variation. <Natural selection> can occur
in three different types: stabilizing selection, directional selection, and disruptive selection.
Stabilizing selection favors the average of a group and depletes genetic variation. Directional
selection favors one extreme of a trait. Disruptive selection favors both extremes, and can result
in a speciation event. Natural selection decreases variation (or maintains variation) within
groups, but increases variation between groups. <Genetic Drift> occurs when there is a random
change in allele frequency over time, and results in decreased variation within groups, but
, Biological Anthropology Questions And
Answers
increases variation between groups; one type of genetic drift is the "founder effect". <Gene
flow> refers to the transfer of genes across population boundaries, which results in increased
variation within groups, but decreased variation between groups.
What are Mendel's laws of inheritance? State 1 example of an exception to those laws.
Mendel's laws of particulate inheritance are the Law of Segregation and the Law of
Independent Assortment. The Law of Segregation states that two alleles of a gene found on each
pair of chromosomes segregate independently of one another into sex cells. The Law of
Independent Assortment states that genes found on different chromosomes are sorted into sex
cells independently of one another. One exception to Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment is
the concept of linkage (see definition ).
Is race a valid, biologically meaningful concept? Why or why not? No, race is not an
appropriate, valid, or biologically meaningful concept. The concept of race is a typological
leftover from pre-evolutionary, taxonomic interpretations of biological variation. Human
variation is clinal. Traits assumed to be racial (e.g. skin color, cranial form, genetic
polymorphisms) do not correlate in their distribution, which means that they are inherited
independent of one another and are thus non-concordant. Racial traits would have to be
concordant for biological races to exist.
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