ANT 2000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Punctuated Equilibrium, Mendelian Inheritance, Chromosome
Document Summary
Compared with other animals, humans have uniquely varied ways- cultural and biological- of adapting to environmental stresses. During the 18th century, many scholars became interested in biological diversity, human origins, and our position within the classification of plants and animals. Uniformitarianism: belief that natural forces at work today also explain past events. Charles darwin proved a theoretical framework for understanding evolution. He offered natural selection as a powerful evolutionary mechanism that could explain the origin of species, biological diversity, and similarities among related life forms. Theory: set of ideas formulated to explain something. It suggests patterns, connections, and relationships that may be confirmed by new research. Natural selection: selection of favored forms through differential reproductive success. It operated when there is competition among members of the population for strategic resources. Through experiments, mendel discovered that discrete particles, or units determine heredity. Dominant: term describing an allele that masks another allele in a heterozygote.
