Test Answers on Anthropology Midterm #2 – Flashcards
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While conducting a study on hypoxia among individuals living in the Peruvian Andes, you have been able to show that individuals in the population have likely suffered hypoxia and/or resided there for long periods of time. You know this because
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individuals who moved to the region as children have greater lung volumes than individuals who moved to the area as adults.
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R. C. Lewontin found that human "races" have no taxonomic significance. He demonstrated this
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through research indicating that most genetic variation is found across human populations.
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Relative to people with a history of living in temperate climates, the Inuit and other cold-adapted populations
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None of the above
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Wolff's law
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accounts for the remodeling of bone when it is under stress.
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Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
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categorized skulls into five racial types.
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Race is not a valid biological concept because
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all of the above
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Johann Friedrich Blumenbach categorized humans into the following races
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Mongoloids, Malays, Ethiopians, American Indians, and Caucasoids
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Functional adaptations to high altitude include all of the following except
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smaller diameter of blood vessels.
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Global studies on human thermoregulation have revealed
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populations adapted to hot climates have more efficient reactions to heat stress
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Although Bergmann's and Allen's rules most often explain body shape and morphology, we occasionally see variations from the correct patterns. This indicates that
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body shape and morphology reflect both evolutionary and developmental processes
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When epiphyses fuse to the diaphyses,
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full adult height is attained.
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Hypoxia has been shown to be an agent of natural selection because Tibetan women
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with alleles for high oxygen saturation in their hemoglobin had more surviving children
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The strength and mass of bone
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vary with an individual's level of physical activity
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Results from anthropomorphic measurements of Turkana pastoralists indicate long limbs. This suggests which of the following?
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The population is one point on the continuum of variation observed in Allen's rule.
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C. Loring Brace argued that the race concept
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can be traced to the Renaissance, when seafaring travelers observed differences between people from distant lands.
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Osteoporosis is
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a main cause of hip fractures in older women.
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Which of the following is key to maintaining internal homeostasis?
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adaptations
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Which of the following is the expansion of blood vessels near the body's surface in response to excessive heat?
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vasodilation
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Melanocytes ____.
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produce melanin
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Children living at high altitudes develop a larger chest cavity by adulthood than children living at lower altitudes. This is an example of
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developmental adaptations that occur at the level of the individual during critical life stages
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Dark skin (a result of increased melanin production in equatorial peoples) is likely a response to ultraviolet radiation, because UV radiation can cause
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skin cancer
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Ultraviolet radiation can be an important factor in selection for increased melanin production because UV radiation can cause which of the following?
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C and D only
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________ states that heat-adapted mammals will have long limbs, which maximize the body's surface areas.
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Allen's rule
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Bergmann's rule ____.
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states that bodies with increased mass or volume to surface area are optimal for cold climates
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The average heights of European-American males in the United States fluctuated between 1710 and 1970 and
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were positively affected by access to medical care
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Franz Boas
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showed that U.S.-born children had different head shapes than their immigrant parents.
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DNA
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schedules growth, but environment and events influence actual development
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Research has shown that human growth and development
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both a and b.
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The fact that Turkana children are often initially shorter than American children is indicative of
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the fact that growth is often related to nutrition and other environmental factors
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Population geneticists use the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium equation to determine ____.
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whether evolution is occurring at a given locus
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Which of the following contributes most to skin color?
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melanin
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Lactose intolerance ____.
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all of these
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Sweating evolved in humans as a response to what?
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thermoregulatory adaptation to hair loss in humans
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Relative to other primates, prosimian adaptations include
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an enlarged olfactory bulb and enlarged scent glands
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You are reading a scientific paper regarding the relationships of the anatomical and behavioral characteristics of chimpanzees and their implications for early hominid evolution. You note that the authors refer to human ancestors as hominids. This implies that
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the researchers are relying on anatomical classifications of chimpanzees and humans, as this is most appropriate when looking at adaptation and anatomy
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The genetic classification for apes and humans
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includes three sub families within hominids: pongines, gorillines, and hominines.
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Anthropoids differ from prosimians in that they
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have better color vision
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Which of the following are prosimians?
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lemurs
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Humans are the only primates who lack a sectorial complex on the premolar. This is an example of
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a derived trait, because it is present in only one or few species of a group
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Primate dietary adaptions is facilitated by
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four functionally distinctive tooth types
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While at the zoo you see an exhibit with a small group of primates you have not seen in your textbook. However you notice they have wet, snout-like noses similar to a dog's. You tell your friend that this is
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a species of prosimian, because they retain the rhinarium commonly found in other mammal species.
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Chimpanzee material culture dates to
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4,000-5,000 yBP.
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In class your professor shows you an MRI scan of a primate brain. The professor points out the relatively large size of the olfactory bulb beneath the frontal lobe. This suggests to you that
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this primate must be a species of prosimian, as that suborder of primates still relies heavily on the sense of smell for many aspects of daily life
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The rhinarium is present in
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ring-tailed lemurs
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Relative to body size, primate brain size
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is larger among humans than among other primates
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Primates spend
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much of their time foraging for food
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The tarsiers belong to the taxonomic suborder of
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Prosimii
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Which of the following prosimians spend considerable amounts of time on the ground
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ring-tailed lemurs
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The use of different natural objects to obtain food, similar to that observed in chimpanzees, has been observed in
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both b and c
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In studies of primate cognition and tool use, researchers have taught chimpanzees to crack open nuts with stones. Later in life, these chimpanzees have taught other young chimpanzees and offspring the same skill. This could be considered
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all of the above
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Chimpanzees taught by humans to make a simple stone tools
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passed this new behavior to relatives
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While observing primates at the zoo, you notice that the particular monkey you are watching uses its hands, feet, and tail to move throughout the trees in its enclosure. This is most likely
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a New World monkey, because many of these species have a tail with grasping abilities similar to those observed in nonhuman primate hands and feet
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Prehensile tails
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are present only in some platyrrhines
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Colobine primates
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have specialized digestive anatomy for eating leaves
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The two suborders of primates are
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prosimians and anthropoids
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Orangutans are an example of which residence pattern
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solitary
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Suspensory locomotion is characteristic of which primate?
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gibbons
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Sexual dimorphism in canine size
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is greater in societies where males compete.
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The suborder Prosimians includes
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galagos, lorises, tarsiers, and lemurs
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Suspensory primates generally have what type of body structure?
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longer arms than legs
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The typical dental formula of lorises and lemurs is
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2 / 1 / 3 / 3
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Sagittal crests are pronounced in some primates with highly developed ________ .
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masticatory muscles
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All of the anthropoids live in social groups except
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orangutans
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The Y-5 molar morphology is present in
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chimpanzees.
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Sexual dimorphism in body size is greater in societies where
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males compete for access to females.
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What trait makes humans unique?
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They are the only primates known to depend on material culture for survival
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Primates' enhanced sense of vision stems from
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both a and c.
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Chimpanzee tool use challenges the assumption
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that material culture is unique to humans.
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Modern primates are characterized by arboreal adaptations including
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opposable thumbs
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The typical catarrhine dental formula is
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2 / 1 / 2 / 3
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The suborder Prosimians includes
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lemurs, lorises, galagos, and tarsiers.
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Monogamy is characteristic of
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gibbons
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The increased brain size observed in the order Primates
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both a and c
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Which of the following were identified by Sir William le Gros Clark as tendencies of primates?
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all of the above
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Primate females
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give birth to fewer offspring than do many other mammals
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Jane Goodall's observations of chimpanzee behavior in the wild documented all of the following except
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chimpanzees using spears to hunt for small primates.
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A skull with a foramen magnum located on the back, which positions he skull in front of the body, belongs to
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an individual that is fully quadrupedal, such as a dog
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A feature unique only to human teeth and human ancestors' teeth is
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a canine that shows wear on the tip.
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A finger pad with primitive dermal ridges most likely belongs to which of the following?
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pottos, lories, and other similar species
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In nonhuman primates, grooming relationships serve
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to reinforce social structures and cement social bonds.
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Because of the enhanced sense of touch, most primate species have
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nails instead of claws on all limbs.
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The nose structure in all primates
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is flatter against the face and contributed to a decreasing sense of smell
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When observing primates at the zoo, you notice a male and female gibbon quite similar in size, unlike what you previously saw in the hamadryas baboon enclosure. You know that
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the lack of sexual dimorphism you see is due to decreased competition for mates in a monogamous social structure
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Living lemurs are found only in
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Madagascar
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James Goodall was the first to document
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all of the above
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Anthropoids include
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monkeys, apes, and humans
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The presence of a honing complex relates to
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canine size
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In comparison to Prosimians, anthropoids
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have a reduced sense of smel
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In terms of geologic time, when did human beings appear on Earth?
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very recently
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The Danish physician who developed the geologic principle of superposition, according to which rocks (and fossils) higher in a sequence are younger than those buried farther down, was
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Niels Stensen (aka Nicolaus Steno)
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Historically speaking, which came first in the science of giving ages to the fossil record?
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relative age
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Which of the following is not one of the main methods for reconstructing ancient environments?
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40K/40Ar analysis of lava flows and of ash layers
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Biostratigraphic dating relies on
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the first and last appearances of species in the fossil record
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Based on the molecular clock, it is estimated that the hominid lineage diverged from that of the chimpanzee about
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6-8 mya
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The absolute dating method that involves counting the annual rings visible in the cross-section of a tree is called
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dendrochronology
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Which of the following is false regarding absolute dating techniques?
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Each can work with any type of material
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Phylogeny is important to the study of human evolution because
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all of the above
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Fossils are typically recovered within ____ exposures
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sedimentary rock
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In an excavation you find the remains of two human skeletons along with the antler of an antelope. How can you attempt to date these skeletons?
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You can research the antler bone to find out which species it belongs to an then use faunal dating
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if fossil species A is consistently recovered from geological deposits beneath layers containing fossil species B, then A is considered older than B. This relative dating technique is based on the principle of
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superposition
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Which type of plants is associated with open grasslands typical of tropical savannas
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C4 plants
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While on a paleontological dig in the United Kingdom, you come across a completely preserved (including skin) extinct species of mammal within a bog. You note that for a mammal it is relatively hairless. In order to determine the adaptive significance of hairlessness, you must
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collect data that will help you to reconstruct the environment of hat time
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Which of the following has the greatest likelihood of becoming fossilized
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teeth
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As recently as a few hundred years ago, most Westerners thought the earth was about how many years old?
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6,000
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The significant drying up of the Mediterranean Basin at the end of the Oligocene epoch was probably due to
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the appearance of huge ice sheets in Antarctica.
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Studies of temperatures during the Cenozoic era suggest that
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temperatures have fluctuated, sometimes greatly, over time.
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________ is the process of matching strata from several sites using chemical, physical, and other properties
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Stratigraphic correlation
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Ocean-dwelling microorganisms called foraminifera are important in evolutionary studies mainly because
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the chemical composition of their shells records past temperatures
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The study of what happens to an organism's remains after death is called
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taphonomy.
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The first logical step in a sequence of events that leads to the discovery and analysis of primate fossils is the
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selection and surveying of potential sites
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High levels of 18O in now-fossilized foraminifera shells indicate
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a decrease in temperature.
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One of the only fossil sites in the world that preserves a great deal of evidence for anthropoid evolution during the Eocene and Oligocene epochs is
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Fayum, Egypt.
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Prior to the invention of absolute dating techniques, one of the chemical dating methods useful for establishing the relative age of fossils from a single site was
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fluorine dating.
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The absolute dating technique that emerged as a result of research into constructing the atomic bomb during World War II is
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14C dating
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The "supercontinent" that existed about 200 mya, from which the modern continents ultimately emerged, is called
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Pangaea.
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The English surveyor who developed the technique of stratigraphic correlation between regions was
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William Smith
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The ratio of C3 to C4 plants in a paleoenvironment can be estimated using the ratio of two stable isotopes of which element derived from fossils or ancient soils?
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carbon
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Variants of elements that differ based on the number of neutrons in the atom's nucleus are called
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isotopes
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Paleomagnetic dating relies on
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the periodic reversal of the earth's magnetic poles
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With a half-life of 5,730 years, 14C dating is useful for dating carbon-bearing objects as far back as
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50,000 years ago.
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Which U.S. president reported the discovery of a fossilized ground sloth in Virginia to the American Philosophical Society?
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Thomas Jefferson
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A diagram (family tree) that proposes hypothetical ancestor-descendant relationships between species is a
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phylogeny
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The chemical signature of volcanic ash layers can be used to
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correlate sites across vast regions.
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Which geological time period is referred to by geologists as the oldest portion of Earth's history, accounting for roughly 87% of that history?
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Precambrian eon
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Recent paleoenvironmental reconstructions suggest that the earliest members of the hominid lineage evolved in
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woodlands along both rivers and lakes.
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The earth is about ________ old.
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4.6 billion years
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Which dating method would be most appropriate for establishing the age of a volcanic ash layer from an early hominid site in eastern Africa?
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40K/40Ar dating
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The time it takes for 50% of an unstable isotope to decay to a stable form is called the
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half-life
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Electron spin resonance dating would be most useful in attempting to date which object?
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a fossilized tooth