Human Evolution

Human Evolution

Human Evolution

1. If all living human populations on Earth are ranked in order, from the highest heterozygosity to the lowest, or from the highest variance of microsatellite copy-number to the lowest, what striking overall pattern is revealed?

2. Tarsiers are highly adapted for night vision, yet they have no tapetum.What primates do have a tapetum? How is the tarsiers’ lack of a tapetum consistent with their true (molecular-based) classification?

3. What is the difference between a Homo erectus Acheulian hand axe and a Homo neanderthalensis Mousterian Levallois point, in the shape and technique of manufacture?

4. What were the important discoveries at Dmanisi, and what can we learn from them about human evolution?

5. The chimpanzee pelvis is like that of anthropoids in general, so it is probably close in anatomy to the pelvis of the most recent common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans. What are some of the the main anatomical differences between the chimp pelvis and the human pelvis, and what is their functional significance?

6. What kind of genetic sequence evidence shows that genes specific for brain enlargement have been under strongnatural selection for a long time in the line leading to modern humans?

7. What different, distinct lineages of Homo have mingled their genomes into the gene pool of Homo sapiens? What regional segments of the modern human population show, or do not show, genetic evidence of such contributions?

8. In what part of the world does Homo erectusappear to have survived the longest?

9.What is the difference between percussion flaking and pressure flaking? Which is more advanced?

10. What main physical features differentiate chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from bonobos (Pan paniscus)?

11. What type of genetic evidence was the first to demonstrate the origin of humans in Africa?

12. How are molecular phylogenetic trees showing evolution within genus Homousually rooted?

13. After the earliest migrations of Homo sapiens out of Africa reached the Middle East, what was the earliest general direction and pathwaythat they appear to have followed away from that region?

14. What environmental factors may have predisposed early Homo sapiens to take this route (see last question)?

15. What is the very approximate time frame of this earliest human migration out of Africa (see last question)?

16. Along the route of this earliest migration, where do we find distinctive native populations which appear to representsurvivors of the original migration, as more-or-less intact, less intermingled groups (see last question)?

17. What are the two oldest fossil species which are presumed to be on (or close to) the line leading to Homo sapiens after the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans, and what is their approximate age?

18. Describe the global geographic range that was eventually occupied by Homo erectus according to current knowledge.

19. How does the genus Paranthropus appear to fit into the story of hominins?

20. What is a rhinarium? How are primates classified by the presence or absence of a rhinarium?

21. How were many vertebrate genomes compared to reveal the genes that natural selection acted upon most strongly in human evolution? In this study, what two parts of the human body were found to have undergone the most accelerated genetic change?

22. What are some significant changes in overall metabolism that distinguish humans from other apes?

23. The Pleistocene begins at ~2.6 (2.588) MYA at the Gauss-Matuyama magnetic reversal. This is also the approximate time of first appearance of what hominin genus?

24. In general terms, what does the ratio Ka/Ks assess, and how is its numerical value interpreted?

25. What is the total geographic range that was ever occupied by Neanderthals (as far as we now know for sure from fossils), and where do they appear to have survived the longest before finally disappearing?

26. What curious pattern of tooth wear is seen in many Neanderthals?

27. What were some notable anatomical features of Neanderthals?

28. What major diagnostic anatomical features differentiate New World and Old World anthropoids?

29. How does human phoneme diversity support the Out-of-Africa model of human origins?

30. In what region did hybridization between Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis most likely occur, according to fossil evidence?

31. What transposon family is very abundant but found only inprimates, and can be used to reconstruct the entire phylogenetic tree of primates?

32. What protein-coding gene is implicated in language, expressed in the brain, and has had a very high ratio of Ka/Ks in the human lineage since the divergence of chimps and humans?

33. In what approximate time frame did humans cross the Bering Straits region, on dry land, into the new World?

34. What are the last four epochs in the Cenozoic Era, in order?

35. How can we reconstruct the evolution of human chromosome number two?

36. What epoch of the Cenozoic Era saw the main evolution of apes and is often called the “Age of Apes”?

37.Ardipithecus is the earliest known genus of fossil hominin that shows a big shift toward a human-like pelvis. But what were its feet like?

38. What ethnic groups of native Africans branch most deeply on the human phylogenetic tree?

39. How does linkage disequilibrium vary among modern human populations? What significance does this pattern have, and why does it exist?

40. What are the Negrito populations and what is the controversy about their origins?

41. How are ape arms and shoulders different from monkey arms and shoulders?

42. In what specific region is the percentage of Denisovan genes the highest?

43. Which regions of the world have a legacy of Neanderthal genes in their genome, and which do not?

44. What sort of genes did Europeans, in particular, retain from their heritage of Neanderthal interbreeding?

45. What was the time and nature of the event that marks the end of the Miocene Epoch?

46. What major geological and environmental changes were occurringin the Late Miocene?

47. What was the Younger Dryas?

48. How long ago was the last glacial maximum (LGM)?How did the climate change after that?

49. What type of species were generally the first to be domesticated, as humans began to learn agriculture?

50. What other question were you totally prepared to answer, and what is your answer to it?