Compendium Review: Chapters 22,23,24

Human Landscapes

Evolutionary History (text, page 488)

Natural Selection (text, page 474, 488)

Human Ecology (Powerpoint)

-Physical Landscape (text page 508, http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/greenhouse.html)

-Biological Landscape (domestication) Powerpoint

Biological evolution explains the unity and diversity of life. (Descent from a common ancestor explains the likeness of living things. Adaptation to different environments explains the diversity of living things).

Fossil evidence supports evolution.

Darwin discovered much of the evidence for common descent.

Biographical Evidence: the distribution of organisms on Earth is explainable by assuming that organisms evolved in one locale.

Anatomical Evidence: the common anatomies and development of a group of organisms are explained by descent from a common ancestor.

Biochemical Evidence: all organisms have similar biochemical molecules.

Darwin developed a mechanism for adaptation known as natural selection. The result of natural selection is a population adapted to its natural environment.

The critical elements of natural selection are variation, competition for limited resources (such as food), and adaptation.

Over time the environment "selects" members of a population for better-adapted traits. (Those with more advantageous traits capture more resources and are more likely to reproduce and pass on those traits).

The classification of humans is traced to our ancestry. The first hominid (this includes humans) is thought to have lived around 6-7 MYA.

There are two hypotheses of modern human evolution. The multiregional continuity hypothesis suggests that modern humans evolved separately in Europe, Africa, and Asia. The out-of-Africa hypothesis says that humans evolved in Africa, but then migrated to Asia and Europe.

Human Ecology: Species, including humans, live in communities or ecosystems. A diagram of a human ecosystem is shown below.

Physical Landscape:

The Water Cycle: The reservoir of the water cycle is freshwater that evaporates from the ocean. Water that falls on land enters the ground, surface waters, or aquifiers and evaporates again. All water returns to the ocean.















The Carbon Cycle

The reservoirs of the carbon cycle are organic matter. (forests and dead animals for fossil fuels), limestone, and the ocean. The exchange pool is the atmosphere. Photosynthesis removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Respiration and conduction add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.









The Greenhouse Effect

The Greenhouse Effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because of certain gases in the atmosphere that trap energy from the sun. The gases are referred to as greenhouse gases because they warm the world. These gases include carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, etc).









Biological Landscape: Domestication

The basis for our relationship with domesticated species includes the following:

-Food and Agriculture (food crops and animals)
-Transportation (animals)
-Care and Protection (pets)

Wikipedia provides a great, in-depth look at the history of domestication.