Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Reflections and Conclusions


This semester, we've discussed many topics dealing with evolution and though it is still just a theory, there is substantial evidence supporting it. We all worked as a team, gathering data and conducting research to make this blog as informative as possible. And while we all got something different out of it, everyone seemed to agree that biology and culture play a vital role in the process of evolution.


Chanwoo David Kim:



Overall, doing research on each question helped me easily understand the theory of evolution. Several processes working together help an organism evolve, and examples for this are darker-colored moths and domesticated wolves. I was fascinated by the facts about bipedalism and survival issues too.

There are a couple of theories explaining how humans populated the old world. I find the third theory, “the partial replacement model” more convincing. There must have been modern humans interbreeding with late archaic humans. Europeans that migrated from Africa could have interbred with Neanderthals when they shared the continent of Europe for 12,000 years. The other two theories don’t sound as convincing to me because I just think that it is impossible to have no interaction with other human species living in nearby areas.

Furthermore, I think there must be a close relationship between culture and biology. For example , humans didn’t produce a protein that allowed them to digest lactose after being weaned prior to 4000 BCE, but after Europeans began to drink the milk of domesticated animals, the genetic adaptation favoring lactose consumptions spread quickly throughout the continent. It shows that cultural shifts lead to changes in behavior, affecting biology. Hence, humans are more than biology because we are also continuously interacting with complex cultures.



Heath L. Johnson:


The information I acquired during the research on my field notes was somewhat similar to what was written in our blog, although the field notes and timeline gave me more of an idea of the continuation of hominins through mutated DNA. I felt and will propose that over millions of years, enough mutations occurred to suggest that Australopithecus Afarensis was an ancestor of modern humans. The climate also had much to do with natural selection.

I learned a great deal from my studies on hominins and evolution due to natural selection, partly from mutations and climate. It is interesting just looking at tooth development. We can determine the diet of hominins from their teeth. We know how much processing, breaking down and/or cooking, was done over history just by tooth development and wear.



Jacky Torres:


I believe the extinct bipeds were able to survive because of certain characteristics they had/inherited. For example, physical changes in pelvic/foot structure lead to a more efficient stride in bipedalism. The existence of extant bipedal primates was made possible because they were able to adapt physically and culturally to the various environments they lived in, and the various tasks they faced. An example would be the language and culture associated with larger brains and certain neurological changes. Biocultural evolution has also played a role in the existence of extant bipedal primates. The fact that bipedal primates inherited the ability to form groups and coexist plays a huge role in this.


Jessica Polk:


I found it interesting that all human DNA contains up to 4% Neanderthal DNA. (Excluded from this category are people originating from Africa.) This leads me to believe in the partial replacement model where early hominins left Africa and met up with Neanderthals in the Middle East. There, they interbred and that is why we can still find traces of Neanderthal in our current human DNA. I sometimes even wonder if perhaps a few "Big Foot" or Cro-Magnums aren't still out there, hidden away, living in seclusion.

Taking this class has given me a better perspective on the human race. We tend to think we are all that ever was or ever will be. We forget that there were many populations before us that ruled the Earth but died out after one million years, and yet we have only been "ruling" Earth ourselves for half that time. We have amazing technology now and you would think that with all of that, we'd be able to make it one million years or more, but our technology and need to consume are destroying our planet and ultimately us. If we don't all make it to one million years, I'm sure some of us will squeak by and perhaps see the evolution of the next species.

No comments:

Post a Comment