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PLP2000
Exam 3
54
Other
Not Applicable
07/28/2004

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Cards

Term
What is meant by mass extinction?
Definition
An excessive amount of one type of species becomes extinct.
Term
What is natural selection, and who came up with this theory?
Definition
Natural selection is the way animals with favorable genes prosper, and those with unfavorable genes perish; Charles Darwin
Term
What are omnivores? Grazers? Browsers?
Definition
Omnivores=eat anything; grazers=eat grasslands; broswers=eat tree leaves
Term
Plant life changed dramatically during the Triassic Period and Milocene Epoch. What resulted?
Definition
Angiosperms and grasslands became common and grazers flourished as browsers became extinct.
Term
What events led to the Cretaceous extinctions, and what were the casualties?
Definition
Volcanic eruptions, inland sea drained, and an asteroid impact led to the extinction of dinosaurs.
Term
When did the Cretaceous asteroid impact Earth?
Definition
65 million years ago
Term
What survival disadvantages do large-bodied animals or plants have?
Definition
Large body size, reproduced slowly, warm-blooded=needing a constant supply of food.
Term
When environmental changes are sudden, small-bodied animals are more likely to survive. Why?
Definition
They were generalists, small, and cold-blooded=hibernated.
Term
Are highly specialized organisms more likely to adapt to sudden changes or not?
Definition
No
Term
What were the sauropod dinosaurs, and why did they decline during the Cretaceous?
Definition
They were browsers and they perished due to the appearance of grass and the disappearance of trees.
Term
How did mammoths differ from the mastadons?
Definition
Their teeth were specialized for eating grass.
Term
What physical adaptations enabled the wooly mammothto adapt to the Pleistocene?
Definition
Increase molar folding and crown height, modify tusks, get hairier and fatter, enlarge heart and feet, reduce ear size, and modify trunk tip.
Term
How did the diets of mammoths and mastadons differ? What type of habitats did each seek?
Definition
Mammoths ate grasses and sought grasslands and prairies; mastadons ate trees and sought forests.
Term
What role did human hunters play in the extinction of the woolly mammoth?
Definition
At a time when environmental stresses began taking a toll on the woolly mammoth, man came and began to kill off the rest of them.
Term
How did the mammoths of Wrangle Island adapt, and why did they survive so long?
Definition
They shrunk in size.
Term
What type of teeth are in your mouth?
Definition
Incisors, canines, and molars
Term
How are human teeth similar and/or different from those of elephants?
Definition
Elephants have no canines, only 2 incisors, modified molars, and everything is enlarged.
Term
Why are most browsing animals not suited for life on the prairies?
Definition
They have low-crowned teeth that are meant for eating soft, succulent vegetation.
Term
What is a sigmoid curve and its components?
Definition
A way to compare populations in relation to their resource, its components are the lag phase, exponential phase, and the decceleration phase.
Term
Who was Thomas Malthus, and what is meant by Malthusian limits? What is carrying capacity?
Definition
Malthusian limit is the limit at which the land no longer has enough resources to support life.
Term
Where is Easter Island, who settled there, and when?
Definition
It is in the South Pacific, the Lapita people settled there in 1000 AD.
Term
Who were the Lapita people, and where did they come from?
Definition
They were master artisans, navigators, and story-tellers, and they came from Polynesia.
Term
What is pollen dating? How can this help archaeologists?
Definition
They test what used to be swamp land to see what kind of pollen they find and then they are able to date certain artifacts.
Term
What is obsidian? How can it be used to date archaelogical sites?
Definition
Obsidian is glass that when broken cracks (hydration) and those cracks can be tested to date how long ago they were broken.
Term
When did the Easter Islanders begin using obsidian weapons and why?
Definition
1600 AD for warfare.
Term
How and why were the Easter Island stone heads made, and how were they moved?
Definition
Heads were chipped away at, created for "mana" from the Gods, moved using logs.
Term
Why were the statues mutilated, and who did it? What was the birdman cult?
Definition
They were mutilated by the Long Ears because the Gods were not venerating them. The birdman cult are the people who began worshipping birds in the hopes that they would bring them luck.
Term
Were there trees on Easter Island, and is so, what happened to them?
Definition
Yes, but all the trees were cut down and the soil was unable to grow more. The people of Easter Island made it even more impossible for thier gorwth because they ate all of the trees' seeds.
Term
What happened to the Easter Islanders after they were discovered by Europeans?
Definition
Europeans take them into slavery, carrying workers to Peruvian guano mines and returns them with smallpox.
Term
Who were the Olmecs and the Classic Maya? Where did they live, and when?
Definition
Olmecs civilization began in 1200 BC and ended in 400 BC; Classic Mayan civilization began in 300 AD and ended around 900 AD.Both lived in the Copan Valley.
Term
When the Olmec and Mayan civilizations were collapsing did violence ensue?
Definition
Yes
Term
Do the Maya still exist today as an ethnic group, speaking the Mayan language?
Definition
No
Term
What is fallow and crop rotation? Why are they so important for agricultural sustainability?
Definition
Fallow is when the a field is allowed to sit for a year or two so that the soil's nutrients can replenish themselves; crop rotation is when a different crop is planted on a field every growing season.This allows the soil to provide better nutrients to the crops.
Term
The Classic Maya people suffered from iron deficiency anemia. Why was this disease so common?
Definition
There was severe malnutrition amonst the Classic Maya people due to their propensity to ignore fallow and crop rotations.
Term
Where were the first four riverine centers of agriculture in the Old World?
Definition
Tigris/Euphrates, Nile, Indus, and Huang Rivers
Term
What were the main food crops of the four civilizations there?
Definition
Wheat and barley
Term
What are some benefits, drawbacks of civilizations?
Definition
Benefits: monumental public works, schololarly pursuits; drawbacks: people less robust and not as healthy, more disease
Term
Is agriculture generally a prerequisite for the existence of cities?
Definition
Yes
Term
What happened in Greece between 500-300 BC?
Definition
The Pericles of Athens died of the plague, deforestation, erosion, and ecological havoc, Alexander the Great died of the plague, and there were many scholorlarly advances.
Term
Who was Pericles of Athens and Alexander the Great and what did they die of?
Definition
The two leaders of Greece that both died of plague.
Term
Who were Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Theophrastus?
Definition
Scientists; Aristotle=specialized in anatomy, but never dissected a cadaver; Hippocrates="Father of Medicine;" Theophrastus="Father of Botany"
Term
What did these three great scientists know about disease?
Definition
Nothing
Term
Where did most of Rome's wheat come from?
Definition
Carthage, Eqypt, and Sicily
Term
Where was Carthage and why was it so important to Rome?
Definition
Carthage was in Africa and it supplied Rome with most of its wheat.
Term
Was most of the wheat transported to Rome by land or water? Why?
Definition
Water, land trasnportation was impossible.
Term
What plant disease caused so much trouble there? Who was Robigus?
Definition
Rust was a major plant disease that affected the wheat and Robigus was the Roman god of rust that they prayed to to alleviate the problem.
Term
What energy sources did Rome have available to it?
Definition
Wind, hydroelectric (water), and agriculture
Term
Who were Galen and Pliny the Elder and what did they know about agents od disease?
Definition
They were biologists who tried to cope, but could not.
Term
List some of the factors that contributed to Rome's decline.
Definition
Outbreaks of human disease and plant diseases.
Term
As Rome weakened, what groups of nomads infiltrated the former empire?
Definition
Germanic Barbarians
Term
About when did Islam come into being? How did it expand? Who was Muhammad?
Definition
It came into being around 570 AD after Muhammad's birth, and was expanded by Arab horsemen.
Term
When and where was the Alexandria Library built?
Definition
It was built in Alexandria, Egypt when Alexander the Great was in power.
Term
Who was the first librarian, and what did he learn about Earth?
Definition
Eratosthenes learned the world was round.
Term
Who was Hypatia and what happened to her?
Definition
She was the last librarian and she attacked by a mob, stripped, and had her skin peeled off by abalone shells.
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