Biological Anthropology

Midterm #1
Study Guide

Students will be tested on the assigned readings, lectures, in-class activities, and
materials presented in class. Midterm #1 is worth 50 points total. You will need a
Scantron Form No. 882-ES, and a #2 pencil.

These are some of the concepts and terms that you should be familiar with.

1. Charles Darwin/ Natural Selection

2. Evolution
3. Fitness
4. Evolution/ Macroevolution/ Microevolution
5. Eukaryotic/ Prokaryotic Cells
6. DNA, RNA
7. Nucleotides
8. Chromosomes
9. Discrete/Mendelian traits
10. Gene flow, Genetic drift, Founder effect, Mutations
11. Gregor Mendel
12. Phenotypes
13. Genotypes
14. Co-dominance
15. Incomplete dominance
16. Punnett squares
17. Genes/ Alleles
18. Trisomy 21
19. Karyotypes
20. John Ray
21. Fixity of species
22. Carolus Linnaeus
23. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
24. Robert Malthus
25. Hybridization
26. Speciation
27. Deme
28. Gene pool
29. Sickle cell anemia
30. Sexual Dimorphism
31. Homeostasis
32. Acclimatization
33. Allen and Bergmann’s rules
34. Vasodilation/ vasoconstriction
35. Melanocytes/melanin
36. Rickets/ skin cancer

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 37. Basal Metabolic rate
38. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
39. The Race concept
40. Cline

KEYTERMS
Anthropology
• Scientific study of humankind (human beings), both past and present.

Evolution: A gradual change in the genetic structure(s) of a plant or animal population

• Macroevolution: Large scale evolution, such as speciation, that occurs after
hundreds and thousands of generations.
• Microevolution:  evolution  on  a  smaller  scale  

Reproductively Isolated
• Inability to mate and produce fertile, viable offspring primarily due to genetic
differences.
o Ex. Cats and Dogs
Speciation: process by which a new species evolves from an earlier one; involves a form
of isolation

There are two basic types of cells that make up the human body:

o Somatic cells: body tissues, muscles, bones, skin, brain, etc.; all cells not
involved in reproduction (dust mites eat these dead cells)
o Sex cells or gametes: cells involved in reproduction/ passing of genetic info.
(eggs and sperm).

DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid; is a molecule made up of two smaller units, called

nucleotides. DNA controls the structure of proteins and is the primary carrier of genetic
(hereditary) information.
• DNA structure is a double helix or twisted ladder structure.
o The sides of the ladder are made up of sugar and phosphate units, while the
rungs of ladder are composed nitrogen bases.
Chromosomes: Each species has a specific number of chromosomes. All normal
humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes; 46 total.
• Autosomes: 1-22, contain most all of the genetic information for our physical
characteristics except sex determination (Male or Female).
• Sex Chromosomes: are X & Y.
• Females: two X chromosomes; matching pair for sex chromosome.
• Males X & Y sex chromosome pair; males do not have a matching pair.
The Y chromosome for the most part codes for “maleness.” Since males do not
have a matching pair of sex chromosomes, this makes them more susceptible to
traits that reside on the X chromosome.

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Genetics: study of how genes work and are passed from one generation to the next
(offspring).
Genes: Basic unit of inheritance, or a segment of DNA on a chromosome coding
a specific protein. Each gene resides at a specific location on a chromosome
(locus) and each individual receives two “genes” or alleles at each location, one
from each parent.
Allele: alternative forms of gene.
Phenotype: physical expression of a genotype

Gregor Mendel
• Questioned the idea of heredity and blending
• 2 laws of inheritance
• Recognized that genotypes could be: homozygous dominant, homozygous
recessive, or heterozygous
• Punnett Squares; visual representation of Mendelian inheritance. They provide
every possible outcome for offspring for one maternal allele and one paternal
allele for each gene being studied.
• Some traits were controlled by alleles on only 1 genetic locus. They were either
expressed or masked.
 
Johann Freidrich Blumenbach (1752-1840)
Classified groups of people into five categories based on skin tone and facial
projection/head shape.

Francis Galton (1822-1911)

Argued for government regulations on marriage and family size
Known for the concept Eugenics, or idea concerning “race” improvement among “fit”
and “less fit” populations.

Cline: gradual change in some phenotypes from one population to the next.

Punnett Squares
HOMOZYGOUS DOMINANT: TWO copies of the dominant trait; “BB” (remember:
"HOMO" means the SAME).

HOMOZYGOUS RECESSIVE: TWO copies of the Recessive trait; “bb” (remember:

"HOMO" means the SAME).

HETEROZYGOUS: ONE Dominant trait ("B") and ONE

recessive trait ("b")
In HETEROZYGOUS genotypes, the capital letter (DOMINANT)
trait will, "mask, or hide" the RECESSIVE trait.

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ABO blood groups
If you are blood TYPE B (and your genotype is unknown), you could have the
genotype:
B (HOMOZYGOUS Dominant) written as: "BB" OR B (HETEROZYGOUS)
written as: "Bo"

If you are blood TYPE A (and your genotype is unknown), you could have the
genotype:
A (HOMOZYGOUS Dominant) written as: "AA" OR A (HETEROZUGOUS)
written as: "Ao"

In Heterozygous blood types, the recessive is WRITTEN AS A LOWER CASE "o"

Blood type "O" will be:
O (HOMOZYGOUS DOMINANT)= "OO"
O (HETEROZYGOUS) = "OO"
Blood Type "AB" is Co-Dominant: written as: "AB"

Punnett Square Examples:

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