Final Exam Questions Sheet

The current state of civilization can be described in terms of problems of ‘input’ or problems of ‘output’. Describe the main current concerns associated with ‘forests’ as a problem of ‘input’, and describe the main reasons why forests have important value in terms of providing ecosystem services for humans.World food production now appears to have peaked and prices are skyrocketing. Describe the main reasons for this crisis.World food production now appears to have peaked and prices are skyrocketing. Describe the main reasons for this crisiThe current state of civilization can be described in terms of problems of ‘input’ or problems of ‘output’. Describe the main current concerns associated with ‘soil loss’ as a problem of ‘output’Forecasters worry that climate change may disrupt the so-called ‘global ocean conveyer’. Describe what this is, how it might be disrupted, and what the main consequences would beSeveral forecasters have predicted that even if we completely stop all fossil fuel burning tomorrow, it is too late to stop climate change. Describe the main reasons why this may be so.Many experts today believe that bio-fuel production causes more problems than it solves. Describe the main reasoning behind this view.The current state of civilization can be described in terms of problems of ‘input’ or problems of ‘output’. Describe the main current concerns associated with ‘population’ as a problem of ‘output’.Describe the major possible risks involving health care collapse resulting from climate change and peak oil.Describe what the “IPAT equation” means and how this relates to the concepts of “Ecological Footprint” and “World Biocapacity”. Describe also how the relationship between these latter two concepts has changed since the start of the “Great Acceleration”.According to the Living Planet Report, countries seem to be capable of having an acceptable ‘human development index’, or an acceptable ‘ecological footprint’, but not both. Illustrate this using a simple labeled graph, and describe the main factors that are used to assess the magnitude of these two indices for a given country. Also, describe the main factors that affect whether a country falls within the ‘acceptable’ values for these indices.Describe the main conditions required for evolution by natural selection to occur, and explain why genetic variation virtually always exists within a population.(a) Define natural selection. Does natural selection act on genes, traits or individuals? Explain your answer. (b) Does the definition of evolutionary fitness apply to genes, traits, or individuals? Explain your answerExplain how morning sickness in pregnant women can be interpreted plausibly, through the ‘consilience of inductions’ as a product of evolution by natural selection.Describe the main hypotheses that have been put forward for the advantages of bipedalism in humans.Describe the main ideas that have been put forward for the early advantages associated with the discovery and use of fire by humans.Describe the general patterns in brain size relative to body size evident in primates today, and in species of Homo over time — and distinguish two general hypotheses considered in BIOL350 for explaining the probable adaptive advantages associated with the evolution of a larger brain in our early ancestorsIn BIOL350 we considered hypotheses for how a changing climate around 200,000 to 400,000 years ago was associated with a series of effects involving natural selection in favour of certain advantageous human traits, along with certain costs/tradeoffs that in turn favoured evolution of a series of additional traits. Describe these various human traits, their advantages / consequences and associated costs.Describe the main ideas and hypotheses that have been proposed for the advantages resulting from the evolution of a sense of time and self-consciousness / self awareness in humans.Describe the main ideas and hypotheses that have been proposed for the advantages resulting from the evolution of spoken language in humans.Describe what forms of early art are represented in the Upper Paleolithic, and describe the main ideas and hypotheses that have been proposed for the advantages associated with the evolution of art in humans.The agricultural revolution provided many benefits for humans, but there are many indications that agriculture is also responsible for creating many problems. Describe these main problems.One of the most conspicuous products of culture is the ‘sacred’ human belief that our journey through history is a long tale of benefits accrued from ‘progress’ and ‘growth’. Describe how this interpretation is debatable based on major events associated with the historical period known as the Middle Ages.One of the most conspicuous products of culture is the ‘sacred’ human belief that our journey through history is a long tale of benefits accrued from ‘progress’ and ‘growth’. Describe how this interpretation is debatable based on major events associated with the historical period between 1700 and 1900.Describe the major factors throughout the journey of human evolution that resulted in the elevation of human carrying capacity.The ‘march of progress’ for human civilization can be described as a story of energy conversion / generation. Describe what this means. (27) Define what is meant by ‘cultural evolution’ and describe the entities, causes and processes involvedThe ways that humans think and behave and the human cultures that arise from this have been interpreted according to two distinctly different models: the Standard Social Science Model and the Evolutionary Science Model. Describe the main distinguishing features of these two models.The human mind, according to one metaphor, has been described as being like a juke box. Another metaphor compares the human mind to a colouring book. Describe what is meant by these two metaphors.Some human behavioural traits can be understood (largely or entirely) as a product of ‘genetic determinism’, whereas other traits can be understood as a product of ‘cultural determinism’. Describe the main features of these two categories.Describe the major components of ‘life-history strategy theory’ defined in terms of ‘trade- offs’, and describe three human examples that provide illustrations of this that we considered in BIOL350. (32) In BIOL350, we referred to the ‘curse of being male’. Describe what this means and how its effects are evident today in the ways that some men treat and interact with women.Historically, male power = prolificacy. Describe the kinds of evidence, with particular examples, that are available in support of this, that we considered in BIOL350.In BIOL350, we considered several hypotheses based on sociocultural/economic factors for explaining why lifetime offspring production in females is typically lower in more developed countries, even to the point of generating below-replacement level fertility. Describe theseIn BIOL350 we considered evolutionary hypotheses for why polygyny has been the dominant model for marriage throughout human history. Describe these hypotheses and discuss the hypotheses that we considered in BIOL350 regarding where the culture of monogamy came from.In BIOL350, we considered the general changes that have occurred recently in the popularity of marriage, and how this might be interpreted in the context of the various historical motivations for marriage that have affected humans. Describe theseThe ‘human journey’ can be described in one sense as ‘the evolution of an extraordinary social animal’. Describe the main points that we considered in BIOL350 that support this interpretation of what makes humans special in terms of their social intelligence.Does Darwinism mean that we cannot be held accountable for our actions? In BIOL350, we considered arguments proposing that the answer to this question is ‘no’. Describe the nature of these arguments in support of this position) In BIOL350 we considered several mechanisms for how non-kin helping behaviour could have evolved as a product of natural selection. Describe these.In BIOL350 we considered arguments proposing that war could be interpreted largely as a product of biological evolution. Describe the arguments in support of this view.In BIOL350 we considered how ‘pleasure-based meaning’ in humans can be understood from an evolutionary perspective. Discuss the main points in this argument..Define Leisure Drive. In BIOL350 we considered a hypothesis for how Leisure Drive may have evolved in humans. Describe this hypothesis.