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. founder effect.
c. extinction.
d. gene flow.
Shovel-shaped incisors are one of the most distinctive features of people from
a. East Asia and the Americas.
b. South Africa.
c. Australia.
d. India.
Which of the following are examples of primate residence strategies?
a. one-male, multifemale; all-male; solitary
b. one-female, multimale; one-male, multifemale; one-male, one-female
c. one-male, multifemale; multimale, multifemale; solitary
d. all of the above
How are modern humans distinguished from their earliest ancestors?
a. their appearance 6 mya along with bipedalism
b. the presence of habitual bipedalism and adaptations for arboreal living
c. the use of tools
d. hunting, speech, and dependence on domesticated foods
The geneticist who studied the workings of fruit flies’ chromosomes was
a. Charles Darwin.
b. Gregor Mendel.
c. Thomas Hunt Morgan.
d. Thomas Huxley.
The very large baboon-like monkey (up to 80 kg or 176 lbs) that lived during the
African Plio-Pleistocene was
a. Proconsul major.
b. Oreopithecus bambolii.
c. Sivapithecus indicus.
d. Theropithecus oswaldi.
Which of the following is false regarding populations of living organisms?
a. Parents often produce many offspring.
b. Population size is limited by the food supply.
c. Individuals in populations actively compete for scarce resources.
d. Individuals in populations show little or no variation.
Both Colobines and Cercopithecines appear in the late Miocene fossil record,
representing the two subfamilies of living
a. apes.
b. lemurs.
c. Old World monkeys.
d. New World monkeys.
Primitive Old World monkeys from the mid to late Miocene of Africa are members of
which family?
a. Propliopithecidae
b. Proconsulidae
c. Victoriapithecidae
d. Dryopithecidae
Fossils are typically recovered within ________ exposures.
a. limestone rock
b. volcanic rock
c. igneous rock
d. sedimentary rock
Homeotic (Hox) genes are:
a. structural genes.
b. responsible for the development and location of key body parts.
c. responsible for determining the sex of offspring.
d. not used during embryonic development.
The loud calls of various primate species such as howler monkeys and baboons
a. are often heard during intergroup encounters or other types of competition among
individuals.
b. indicate the physical condition of the caller.
c. convey group size to opposing groups.
d. all of the above.
Microsatellites are
a. small satellite transmitters used in genetic research.
b. useful for determining group but not individual identification.
c. highly individualized repetitive stretches of nuclear DNA.
d. known from Watson and Crick’s 1950s research.
Which of the following is the wild ancestor of modern domesticated maize?
a. corn
b. wheat
c. teosinte
d. rye
The most distinctive feature of ape dentition, which clearly distinguishes apes from Old
World monkeys, is
a. a 2/1/2/3 dental formula.
b. a long canine tooth in males.
c. a Y-5 molar pattern.
d. bilophodont molars.
Which of the following is false regarding absolute dating techniques?
a. They give geologic age in the form of a number some error.
b. They often rely on the decay of radioactive isotopes.
c. Each can work with any type of material.
d. 14C and 40K/40Ar are two main methods.
The region that contains archaeological sites documenting the development of early
farming villages in the Middle East is called
a. the Arable Terrace.
b. the Indus Valley.
c. the Fertile Crescent.
d. the French Connection.
Somatic cells include all of the following except
a. lung cells.
b. sex cells.
c. skin cells.
d. brain tissue.
Male primates compete through many behaviors for access to mates and to maintain
social groupings. These behaviors include
a. infanticide.
b. vocalizing through territorial loud calls.
c. forming alliances.
d. all of the above.
Primate females
a. invest less in their offspring than do many other mammals.
b. give birth to more offspring than do most other mammals.
c. give birth to fewer offspring than do many other mammals.
d. none of the above.
The first true primates (euprimates) appear in the fossil record about ________ .
a. 56 mya
b. 65 mya
c. 4 mya
d. 100 mya
C. Loring Brace argued that the race concept
a. was first used by Marco Polo as he recorded huge amounts of information during his
travels in Asia.
b. has been present throughout human history.
c. can be traced to the Renaissance, when seafaring travelers observed differences
between people from distant lands.
d. originated in ancient Egypt.
Which of the following hominids had a brain significantly larger than a chimpanzee’s?
a. Australopithecus afarensis
b. Sahelanthropus tchadensis
c. Kenyanthropus platyops
d. none of the above
In order for traits to respond to natural selection
a. they must be acquired prior to gamete production.
b. they must be heritable.
c. they must be found in the mitochondrial DNA.
d. they must be found in cells.
All of the following are formal taxonomic categories except
a. kingdom.
b. population.
c. order.
d. family.
James Hutton’s research in the mid-18th century demonstrated that the earth was
a. 4.6 billion years old.
b. millions of years old.
c. a few thousand years old.
d. 100 billion years old.
A hypothesis
a. is equivalent to a theory.
b. is an attempt to explain observations and predict future scientific results.
c. is a statement concerning scientific facts.
d. cannot be refuted by future investigations.
Which geological time period is referred to by geologists as the oldest portion of Earth’s
history, accounting for roughly 87% of that history?
a. Triassic period
b. Pleistocene epoch
c. Paleozoic era
d. Precambrian eon
Children living at high altitudes develop a larger chest cavity by adulthood than
children living at lower altitudes. This is an example of
a. developmental adaptations that occur at the population level.
b. acclimatization at the individual level.
c. developmental adaptations that occur at the level of the individual during critical life
stages.
d. none of the above.
The middle Pleistocene archaic Homo sapiens is credited with inventing
a. prepared core “points” that may have been hafted to spear shafts.
b. the Acheulean tradition.
c. cave art.
d. the alphabet.
With a half-life of 5,730 years, 14C dating is useful for dating carbon-bearing objects as
far back as
a. 50,000 years ago.
b. 500,000 years ago.
c. 5 mya.
d. 50 mya.
Based on archaeological and genetic studies of modern people, by what mechanism did
wheat spread from the Levant into Europe?
Why is a frameshift mutation far more likely to lead to a defective protein compared
with a point mutation?
Why is the fossil record important to the study of evolution? What are the limitations of
the fossil record?
Detail Darwin’s major contribution to the theory of evolution.
Describe Homo erectus‘s cranial and postcranial anatomical characteristics. How is this
species significantly different from earlier hominids?
What “symbolic” behavior is evident in the archeological record and associated with
anatomically modern humans in Europe beginning around 35,000 yBP (Upper
Paleolithic)?
Why is the Fayum depression in Egypt such an important site for understanding the
origin and diversification of anthropoid primates?
Differentiate between absolute and relative dating techniques, giving one example of
each.
Discuss the problems and consequences of undernutrition and overnutrition around the
world.
Is race a valid, biologically meaningful concept? Why or why not?
Describe some examples of learned behavior and cultural traditions among primates.
What is physical anthropology? Discuss the various branches of physical (or biological)
anthropology.
Why is the peppered moth an excellent example of directional selection?
Discuss the six key attributes that make humans unique relative to other species.
Given the proliferation of apes during the Miocene, how do scientists explain the
comparative rarity of living ape species at present?
Name and briefly describe five key traits of modern humans that the living great apes
do not display.
Name and briefly describe the three main models, or hypotheses, of primate origins.
Geologically speaking, why is East Africa’s Great Rift Valley such an important region
for conducting paleoanthropological research?
Discuss the fossil and archaeological evidence for the varying importance of
scavenging and hunting among Homo habilis and Homo erectus.