ANTHR 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Phenotype, Polyphyly, Cladogenesis
4 Feb 2017
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The least arbitrary and most fundamental evolutionary unit. Natural barriers (mountains, water) may separate breeding populations but separate pops are. Species: a group (or population) or organisms that look more or less alike and interbreed to produce fertile offspring. Breeding populations (dems or mendelian pop) :lesser unit of species in which most individuals find their mates still part of the species. Modern species: type specimen: usually the first one to be found or described -consistent w/ the idea of evolution. Typological: exaggerated, inconsistent w/ evolution but applicable to the fossil record. Biological species concept: commonly use skeletal variability w/in living species to evaluate whether differences among fossils are likely to interbreed or not -fossils are assigned to different species - skeletal variability varies -no universal standards. Con: identification of fossil species inevitably requires dividing the evolutionary continuum into arbitrary units. Charles darwin: didn"t devise the concept of evolution but discovered the principle of natural selection on population growth.
