You are reading a scientific article about cheetahs that have stripes instead of spots. The
article refers to this as a genetic mutation. Though you see they have no negative impact
on the cheetahs’ fitness, the stripes are nevertheless considered a genetic mutation
because mutations:
a. can result in an evolutionary advantage.
b. can result in an evolutionary disadvantage.
c. may have no effect on the phenotype.
d. all of the above
A male and female gibbon that are similar in size likely demonstrate the lack of sexual
dimorphism:
a. due to the polygamous social structure in gibbons.
b. as the result of unequal access to resources within their environment.
c. due to decreased competition for mates in a monogamous social structure.
d. which is not related to social structure in gibbons.
In the 1600s Nicolaus Steno proposed:
a. the principle of uniformitarianism.
b. taphonomy.
c. the law of stratigraphy.
d. the law of superposition.
Which is a major contributor to the success of our species?
a. high fecundity
b. body variation
c. human adaptability
d. skin tone variation
Colobine primates:
a. are mostly frugivorous.
b. are usually terrestrial.
c. have specialized digestive anatomy for eating leaves.
d. are referred to as “cheek pouch” monkeys.
Basal anthropoids are:
a. Paleocene primates that may have been the first anthropoids.
b. Paleocene organisms that may have been the first primates.
c. Eocene organisms that may have been the first primates.
d. Eocene primates that are the earliest anthropoids.
Transfer RNA:
a. seeks complementary triplet strands of mRNA codons.
b. contains codons that correspond to specific amino acids.
c. brings amino acids together to form polypeptide chains.
d. all of the above
Owen Lovejoy’s provisioning hypothesis proposes that:
a. bipedalism meant less body surface to expose to the sun, resulting in a smaller body
size.
b. monogamy and food provisioning created the necessity for bipedalism.
c. bipedalism arose in areas where the forest was disappearing.
d. bipedalism arose as a result of a shift to hunting as a primary source of food.
Transcription:
a. occurs in the nucleus.
b. occurs in the ribosome.
c. results in the production of proteins.
d. results in the transformation of mitochondria.
A hearth is discovered with bone fragments in it. What method might be used to date
the bone?
a. dendrochronology
b. electron spin resonance
c. fission track
d. amino acid method
How do primates acquire food?
a. through cooperation among kin groups, mostly by hunting
b. through a wide variety of food-foraging strategies
c. through a limited set of highly specialized foraging strategies
d. through the use of highly developed material culture
Physical anthropologists study what type of science?
a. astrological
b. biological
c. social
d. biological and social
African Homo erectus cranial features include:
a. thick cranial bones.
b. small browridges.
c. a rounded skull.
d. a sagittal crest.
Bone comparisons between hunter-gatherers and later agriculturalists, then modern
peoples show:
a. an increase in size.
b. greater robusticity of the long arm bones only.
c. a decline in size.
d. a stasis in bone density.
Cultural dating can be used to date:
a. ceramics.
b. bones and teeth.
c. shells.
d. trilobite evolution.
While conducting research with a small population in South America you note that an
overwhelming majority of individuals exhibit signs of a specific genetic abnormality.
This is most likely the result of:
a. natural selection.
b. the founder effect.
c. extinction.
d. gene flow.
Most of the fossils discovered in Africa come from the eastern and southern parts of the
continent. Why is this?
a. More populations of species lived in these areas and nowhere else.
b. Only these areas were conducive to sustaining life.
c. These areas provided better preservation.
d. Many villagers in these areas gather fossils to sell.
Forensic anthropologists:
a. focus their work on skeletal analysis of individuals.
b. study skeletal remains from past human populations.
c. study the evolution of human skeletal traits.
d. do not work outside academia.
Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species (1859) was considered an important
contribution to modern science because it:
a. coined the concept of evolution.
b. synthesized information from diverse scientific fields in order to document
evolutionary change.
c. was immediately and widely accepted by the scientific community as the mechanism
for evolutionary change.
d. proposed the use of the scientific method for the first time.
Darwin observed that adaptations:
a. resulted from supernatural forces.
b. did not vary among Galpagos finches living in different habitats.
c. were physical traits that enhanced survival and reproduction.
d. were peripheral to evolutionary change.
Gametes are:
a. diploid.
b. haploid.
c. produced during mitosis.
d. somatic.
Homo rudolfensis is morphologically most similar to:
a. Homo erectus.
b. Homo sapiens.
c. Homo habilis.
d. Australopithecus robustus.
In 2004, the Human Genome Project published a human genome map indicating that
_______ genes are responsible for the human body’s proteins.
a. 100,000
b. 50,000
c. 20,000″25,000
d. 200,000″250,000
Comparisons of tooth wear in living apes and extinct Miocene apes suggest that some
extinct species of apes ate:
a. insects, fruit, and leaves.
b. leaves, grass, and bark.
c. leaves, nuts, and fruits.
d. nuts, fruits, and small animals.
Modern humans have:
a. traits like large browridges, large nasal sinuses, and a large masticatory complex.
b. a high vertical forehead, a round and tall skull, and small browridges.
c. a small face, small teeth, and a projecting chin.
d. both b. and c.
The Dmanisi B fossils from the Republic of Georgia are dated to:
a. 1.0 mya.
b. 800,000 yBP.
c. 1.7 mya.
d. 2.5 mya.
The most likely contender for the common ancestor of all later catarrhines is:
a. Oligopithecus.
b. Aegyptopithecus.
c. Parapithecus.
d. Apidium.
Australopithecus garhi has been proposed as an ancestor for Homo mainly because it:
a. had a bigger brain than other australopithecines.
b. had smaller molar teeth than other australopithecines.
c. had longer legs relative to arm length than other australopithecines.
d. was bipedal.
A point mutation that does NOT result in a change to the amino acid coded for is said to
be a _______ mutation.
a. spontaneous
b. synonymous
c. selective
d. stabilizing
The Neolithic site atalhyk is located in:
a. southwest Asia.
b. southern Africa.
c. central Mexico.
d. India.
The calcaneus (heel bone) of Eosimias suggests that it may be a very primitive:
a. primate.
b. anthropoid.
c. New World monkey.
d. ape.
The presence of a recessive allele:
a. can always be determined from the phenotype.
b. can be masked in the phenotype.
c. is expressed in the phenotype alongside a dominant allele.
d. can never be expressed in the phenotype.
Provide an imaginary example of the proper use of the scientific method.
Discuss the evidence from the skeletons and teeth of early agriculturalists. Then
describe the negative consequences of a shift from food foraging to the domestication
of food in terms of pathologic evidence.
What form of subsistence pattern is found in the Neolithic period? Name three
geographic regions where Neolithic lifeways appeared independently.
Discuss the forces of evolution and their role in evolution.
Discuss the two models of modern human originsout-of-Africa and multiregional
continuity. Briefly describe their main tenets and discuss how the more recent
assimilation model differs from each.
Evaluate and explain the evidence for the phylogenetic relationship between humans
and other primates.
Discuss which anatomical traits are used to contrast modern humans’ physical
appearance with that of similar hominids. Which are derived and which are ancestral?
Are these traits biological adaptation, as in the case of Neandertals?
Compare and contrast male and female primates in terms of reproductive strategies and
competition.
Discuss how natural selection has likely influenced the evolution of skin color in
humans.
Discuss the origins of racism. Include early scientists and their views on human
variation.
Why was Darwin’s 1859 published theory of natural selection not widely accepted by
his peers? What later scientific advance was critical to the subsequent broad acceptance
of natural selection as a major force in evolutionary change?
Discuss the primate parental investment in terms of success in natural selection. What
are the most important aspects of primate parenting and what is their value to
socialization?
Discuss the value of the scientific method in our society.
Why is a frameshift mutation far more likely to lead to a defective protein than a point
mutation?
Use what you know about meiosis to explain Mendel’s law of segregation and law of
independent assortment.
Describe the arboreal adaptation of primates and include specific anatomical
characteristics.
Contrast the cranial and dental anatomy and adaptation of Australopithecus robustus
with African Homo erectus.