ANT203H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Species Complex, Platypus, Microevolution
Document Summary
Last class review: anthropology: study of humans throughout time, biological anthropology: study of human biology within the framework of evolution, 6 subfields: Subfields of anthropology: physical/biological, socio-cultural, linguistics, archaeology paleopathology and bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, skeletal biology and osteology, primatology, human biology, paleoanthropology. The great chain of being: proposed by aristotle 384-322 bce, orders from least perfect beings to perfect beings (from minerals to god) Evolution defined: change in the genetic structure of a population, works via natural selection, natural selection - differential reproductive success over multiple generations. Natural selection operates on the individual level, but it is the population that evolves - unit of evolution of ns is the population. Fitness: measure of the relative reproductive success of individuals, measure this by the genetic contribution to next generation - more contribution = more fit. Reproductive success: # of offspring produced and survive to reproductive age.
