STUDY GUIDE FOR EXAM III - FALL 2006


For this exam it is recommended that you carefully study all handouts, lecture and film notes, the text, and sections of your Virtual Lab CD covered in class.


CH. 8 MACROEVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES
1. Know the correct form for writing binomial nomenclature names

2. Know the meaning of the rules for binomial nomenclature (appropriateness, priority, plenary powers) and how the US post office applied (in theory) one of the rules and why

3. Know which traits are used to establish phylogenetic relationships. Also know the meaning and application of these terms: homologous, analogous, homoplastic, parallel evolution, convergent evolution, shared derived, and ancestral traits

4. Understand the relationships among the four animals illustrated in class (Tasmanian wolf, North American wolf, kangaroo, whale), which are related and which are not, and why

5. Understand the meaning and application of cladistics and clades

6. Be able to distinguish phyletic gradualism and punctuated equilibrium on all the points
made in class

PRIMATE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY
7. Know every taxon to which humans belong in the Linnean classification system

8. Know the most significant events and types of animals that evolved during each of the major epochs. For this question, it asks what was going on during the Eocene epoch

9. Know the clade to which the Adapidae, the Omomyadae belong; know the place of Plesiadapis

10. Know the significance of the Fayum desert, during the Oligocene; refer to the CD; know in a general way what was found there, what the environment was like

11. Know the characteristics of three Oligocene primates: Apidium, Propliopithecus, Aegyptopithecus. Know their dental formula and what they were ancestral to

12. Know the four major events in the evolution of primates (illustrated in a graph)

13. Know the probable phylogenetic relationship of Proconsul

14 Know the physical characteristics of Proconsul and issues related to classifying it

15. This question is about Ramapithecus and the interpretation in a 1970s text book

CH. 9 PALEOANTHROPOLOGY
16. Understand the process and factors related to fossilization; also know the geological changes that have occurred in the Great Rift Valley
17. Know all the dating methods in detail and be able to distinguish relative and chronometric dating. Know what materials can be dated with each. This question is on biostratigraphy.

18. This question is on Fluorine dating:

19. This question is on Carbon 14 (C 14) dating:

20. Know how Potassium-argon (K/AR) dating works and where it was used the first time

21. This question is on Paleomagnetism

22. This is a general question about the maps we examined in class and how the different types of sites might have been used

23. Be sure to review the Archaeological record in your VL CD and when stone tools appeared and with what fossils they were associated. One of the dates you must know is when the earliest stone tools were made

24. Study the illustration of the Oldowan Industrial Complex very carefully. You will need to know precisely what kinds of tools were present in each mode

25. Understand taphonomy and how it has been used to reinterpret hominid sites

26. Know the term paleospecies and what it implies

27. Know the difference between East African sites and South African sites in terms of dating, how fossils were found, and the contexts for deposition of fossils. Also know the relationship of gracile and robust australopithecines

CH. 10 HOMINID ORIGINS
28. Know the approximate time frame for Sahelanthropus tchadensis, where it was found, the general features, and which epoch it represents

29. Understand the disagreement between Brunet and Wolpoff over Sahelanthropous tchadensis . What conclusions did each draw and on what basis?

30. How did Wolpoff interpret Orrorin tugenensis? What did Ardipithecus ramidus demonstrate about its capabilities and the environment? And Australopithecus anamensis?

31. Study Australopithecus afarensis in detail, know the date range for this fossil, the physical characteristics, and capabilities

32. Be able to identify physical differences between gracile and robust australopithecines

33. Know what the Taung fossil represented, its genus and species name, and why it was so
significant. How did its discovery affect our knowledge about hominid evolution?

34. Know how the "Black skull" has been classified and where it fits in

35. Know the precise characteristics of Australopithecus boisei

36. Know the characteristics of Homo habilis, when it lived and in relation to what other hominids, plus Leakey’s interpretation of this fossil

37. This question covers the controversies surrounding Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis.
You will have to pay special attention to Richard Leakey’s dating and classification of this
fossil and what exactly he was arguing. Note the naming of these two fossils and how those names came to be assigned

38. This question asks the names of all fossils that are defined as Australopithecines

39. You will be given a hypothetical site to excavate and told the date and characteristics of a fossil you find. You are to identify the fossil.

40. There are three questions on the film "In Search of Human Origins: The Story of Lucy" (Part I): This one focuses on the geology of the Great Rift Valley, fossilization, and the original environment in which A. afarensis was found

41. Johanson spoke of a revolutionary idea regarding the discovery of Lucy, what was that?

42. This question focuses on very specific details on the biomechanics of bipedal locomotion:

INTERPRETATION
43. The genus and species names of fossils reflect how they have been interpreted. Know the significance of assigning genus and species names.

44. Study and be familiar with the conclusions presented in Chapter 10 on adaptive patterns of early African hominids..

45. This question is on the eight phylogenies we examined in class. I will ask what
consistencies are found among the different models

46. In a general way, comparing these eight phylogenies, know what is the most intractable problem for interpretation

47. Understand the rationale for Johanson and White's phylogeny and how it is similar to or differs from Richard Leakey’s

48. There are three questions on the film "In Search of Human Origins: Surviving in Africa"
(Part II). This one aks about the behavior of Zinjanthropus in terms of tool use, food procurement, and diet. Also note where hominid sites were located and what that meant for their way of life.

49. Pay close attention to Johanson and Blumenshein’s experiments and what they suggest about hominid lifeways

50. How do these researchers suggest that early hominids survived?