Unit 2
Biological Anthropology
seeks to understand the
role of biology in
understanding human
culture
 Biological anthropologists
seek to answer two sets of
questions:
 The first deal with where
humans (Homo sapiens) come
from (human paleontology).
The second set of
questions deals with how
and why contemporary
human populations differ
biologically ( human
variation)
 Carlos Linnaeus
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Linnaeus placed humans,
apes, and monkeys in the
same order (primates).
 Charles Darwin developed the
theory of Natural Selection.
Natural selection is a process
that increases the frequency
of adaptive traits thought
time.
 Darwin rejected the theory
that species were created in
one fixed form. He believed
natural selection influenced
evolution.

Darwin published The Origin of Species in
1859.
 Natural selection increases
adaptive traits relative to the
environment
 Adaptive traits are those that
increase an organisms chances
of survival.
 What is adaptive in one
environment is maladaptive in
another (i.e. gills).
Evolution and natural
selection act on
populations not individual
animals.
Three things are needed for
natural selection to take place:
1.Variation
2.Heritability
3.Differential reproductive success

Gregor Mendel

Mendel identified that some traits are
dominant and others are recessive.
Genotype- an organism’s
genetic make up
Phenotype – an organism's
physical appearance
What are your
thoughts about the
following museum in
Kentucky? (4 Lines)
The allele of a gene pair
that is always expressed
is Dominant
 Adaptation can occur
culturally or biologically


One issue that was never
in doubt at the Scopes
Trial was the theory of
Evolution
 Genes are the chemical unit of
heredity.
 Genes are contained inside
Chromosomes.
 Chromosomes are paired rod-
shaped structures within a
cell’s nucleus.
 Humans have 46
chromosomes (23 pairs).
What do you think
would happen if your
DNA randomly
changed?
 Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
is a molecule in the genes that
directs an organism’s make
up.
 The bases that compose DNA
always occur in the same pairs:
 Adenine with Thymine
 Guanine and Cytosine
 Adenine and Uracil (in RNA)
Mitosis – cell
reproduction
Meiosis – sex cell
reproduction
Mutation – a change in the
DNA sequence that
produces an altered gene.
Genetic Recombination-
the varied distribution of
traits from parent to child
Genetic drift – the various
random process that affect
gene frequencies in small
isolated populations.
Gene flow – the process by
which genes pass from one
population to another
A species can reproduce
viable offspring.
Speciation is the
development of new
species
 Sociobiology – interested in social
behavior.
 Behavioral ecology – interested in
how behavior is related to the
environment.
 Evolutionary psychology –
interested in how evolution
influenced human behavior.
Type 3- State the cases
for and against
evolution using your
notes in class. (10
Sentences)