If you are looking for BANC-132 IGNOU Solved Assignment solution for the subject Fundamentals of Biological Anthropology, you have come to the right place. BANC-132 solution on this page applies to 2022-23 session students studying in BAG courses of IGNOU.
BANC-132 Solved Assignment Solution by Gyaniversity
Assignment Code: BANC-132/ASST/TMA/2022-2023
Course Code: BANC-132
Assignment Name: Fundamentals of Biological Anthropology
Year: 2022-2023
Verification Status: Verified by Professor
Total Marks: 100
There are three Assignments. All questions are compulsory.
Assignment – I
Answer the following in about 500 words each.
Q1) Discuss briefly any one sub field of biological anthropology. 20
Ans) Human Genetics is one of the many sub fields of biological anthropology:
The study of inheritance aims to explain how traits are passed down across the generations. The scientific subject of genetics is the study of inheritance patterns. Human genetics is the study of how diverse traits are passed down from parents to offspring or how genetic inheritance occurs in the human species.
Long before molecular biologists discovered the genetic underpinnings of evolutionary change, scientists started to comprehend the mechanisms of heredity and how evolution occurs in populations. Watson and Crick's 1953 discovery of the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule helped scientists to better grasp how genetic information is stored in a cell's chromosomes. All living things depend on the manufacturing of protein molecules, which is controlled by genes, certain DNA sequences. Each of us receives a unique set of genes from our biological parents through the process of biological reproduction, resulting in the development of a brand-new individual.
Concept of Gene
The fundamental structural and operational component of heredity is a gene. A few hundred DNA bases to more than 2 million bases make up a gene in a human. Every person has two copies of their genes, one from each parent. Less than 1% of all genes are slightly varied between individuals, but the majority of genes are the same in all people. Alleles are variations of the same gene with minor variations in the DNA base sequence. Each person's distinctive physical characteristics are a result of these minute variations.
There are several genes on each chromosome, and genes themselves are formed of DNA. The intricate, double-helical structure of the DNA molecule was first accurately described by James Watson and Francis Crick. The development of a three-dimensional, double-helical model for DNA's structure by Watson and Crick in 1953 prepared the way for the detailed exploration of genetic elements.
Characteristic Features of the DNA Model
DNA is a double-stranded helix, and hydrogen bonds hold the two strands together. Cytosines are always associated with Guanines, while Adenine bases are always paired with Thymines.
The majority of DNA double helices are right-handed, which means that if you held out your right hand and curled your fingers around your thumb to symbolise the axis of the helix and the sugar-phosphate backbone, respectively, your thumb would be pointing up. Z-DNA is the only kind of DNA that is left-handed.
The 5' end of one strand is coupled with the 3' end of its corresponding strand because the DNA double helix is anti-parallel (and vice versa). The phosphate groups in nucleotides serve as a connection between them, holding the 3' end of one sugar to the 5' end of the following sugar.
The nitrogen-containing bases' outer edges are exposed and open to potential hydrogen bonding in addition to being used to join DNA base pairs. Other molecules, like as the proteins that are essential for DNA replication and expression, can reach the DNA with ease thanks to these hydrogen bonds. Crick continued to conduct ground-breaking research in neuroscience and molecular biology. In the 1990s, Watson was appointed Director of Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory and in charge of the Human Genome Project.
Q2) Who are Primates? Discuss Primate Origin. 20
Ans) A successful and diversified group of eutherian mammals are the primates. Primates are a very old species that most likely diverged from the original mammalian population 65 million years ago. It is likely that some kind of insectivorous mamma from the late Cretaceous period is where primates got their start. The primates have evolved over time from tiny, shrew-like critters into a staggering array of shapes. While certain primates exhibit the highest degree of mammal generalisation, others have unequalled physical and behavioural specialisations. The size of living primates varies widely. The adult eastern lowland gorilla may weigh over 200 kilogrammes, while the pygmy mouse, the smallest surviving primate, weighs about 30 grammes. Primatology is the study of how modern primates live and how they have evolved.
Nearly all of the remaining primates, with the exception of humans, may be found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, both north and south of the equator, in South and Central America, Africa, Asia, and the Indonesian islands. However, primates have never just been found in these regions. Numerous primates' fossils have been found in sections of the British Isles, the northern United States, and the southernmost tip of South America that are not at all tropical and where no living primate could have survived.
Primate Origin
One of the groups of mammals that is well known is the primates. In lowland tropical rainforests, which include mangrove and freshwater swamp forests, there are approximately a thousand live species, and they are most diverse there. Although the evolution of primates is now better understood, there is still little agreement on their origins and the timing of their evolution. The earliest primates most likely began to evolve in the Palaeocene or Late Cretaceous. Purgatoriusceratops, the first recognised species of Plesiadapiformes, is frequently regarded as the earliest and most primitive primate. Altanius, a fossil from the Eocene of Mongolia, has been proposed as the basal primate in a phylogenetic sense, and Altiatlasius, a specimen from the Late Palaeocene of Morocco, as the oldest primate fossil.
However, there is debate regarding how to interpret these fragmented fossils, in particular their phylogenetic significance. Where do primates first come from? Palaeoanthropologists have always been interested in this hypothesis. For more than a century, anthropologists and other biologists have argued about whether Africa, Asia, or America was the genuine origin of primates. However, there is still no conclusive solution accessible. With the most recent advancements in molecular biology, the problem has grown more complicated.
The issue of primates' spatial origins is connected to theories about their temporal origins. While molecular clocks estimate a date of approximately 90 million years in the Cretaceous period, fossil dates suggest that primates originated in the Palaeocene, roughly 56 million years ago. There are various perspectives on where primates originated. Asia was supported as the region of origin by Fleagle and Gilbert. Rasmussen, though, preferred India or Africa. Although some people also support the Indo-Madagascar origin idea, the African origin explanation seems to be the most likely one. Thus, the issue is still up for debate.
Assignment – II
Answer the following questions in about 250 words each.
Q3) Discuss the Modern Synthetic Theory. 10
Ans) A framework for incorporating genetics into natural selection emerged as a result of the development of population genetics. As a result, mutationism failed, and the contemporary synthetic theory was developed. Evolutionary biologists had all come to agree on this integration by the middle of the 20th century, and the synthetic theory had gained widespread acceptance. The Synthetic Theory, in contrast to Weismann and Wallace's Neo-Darwinian idea, took into account data from disciplines like genetics, systematics, and palaeontology. As a result, the terms "Synthetic Theory" and "Neo-Darwinian theory" should not be used interchangeably.
The population was prioritised by Modern Synthetic Theory proponents rather than the individual levels. Natural populations were shown to have a significant degree of genetic variety, and selection might affect these variances. The population therefore possessed the requisite variation to account for the evolution of genetic change over time and space. Modern Synthetic Theory has considered following aspects:
The Modern Synthetic Theory is built on the concept of mutation. These happen haphazardly and provide the genetic variety that drives evolution.
Other elements include hybridization, founder effect, random genetic drift, and migration.
The idea of the "biological species," put forth by Mayr in 1942, is known as synthetic theory.
According to Dobzhansky, speciation is the "evolutionary stage (at which) forms cease to be capable of interbreeding." Many pre-mating and post-mating isolation methods have so been suggested.
Small genetic changes (referred to as "mutations"), recombination, and the natural selection process that orders this genetic variation can all be used to explain gradual evolution. It is possible to provide an explanation for the observable evolutionary phenomena that is consistent with the understood genetic mechanisms, especially macro-evolutionary processes, and speciation.
Q4) Briefly discuss the adaptation to heat. 10
Ans) Biological responses to heat lead to a reduction in these harmful consequences of heat stress. Through frequent exposures that are stressful enough to raise core and skin temperatures and cause perspiration, one becomes accustomed to the heat. These biological adaptations result from coordinated alterations in cardiovascular responses, fluid balance, and thermoregulatory control.
Heat dissipation is aided by sweating. The sweat glands begin to work when the skin temperature reaches 235 degrees Celsius. Beginning at the trunk, perspiration moves toward the extremities.
Blood vessels are dilated during vasodilation. Skin blood flow increases during body heating to help heat transfer from the interior to the skin's surface, and the subsequent heat dissipation is crucial to maintaining a normal body temperature.
The baroreflex management of systemic vascular resistance, which lowers an increased heart rate and blood pressure, is managed by cardiovascular reactions.
Factors Influencing Individual Response to Heat Tolerance for Adaptation to Heat
Age: In comparison to younger people, middle-aged men and women are more physiologically stressed during heat acclimatisation.
Physical Activity: Exercise results in a 10–20-fold increase in metabolic heat production compared to resting. During exercise, evaporation causes the dissipation of 80% of heat.
Body Shape and Proportion: Allen's rule states that persons who live in hot climates have longer extremities and less body mass. Robert has since proposed that a greater surface area to mass ratio is advantageous for heat dissipation, supporting the premise.
Obesity: Due to higher resting metabolic heat generation and a proportionality between heat loss and skin surface area, obese people have high body heat content.
Ethnicity: Heat adaptations The person's ethnic heritage has an impact on stress as well. Shonkoff et al. claim that Australian immigrants may be more susceptible to heat.
Q5) Describe Nutritional Anthropology. 10
Ans) A broad anthropological approach is used to study nutrition in nutritional anthropology. Additionally, it discusses how food, nutrition, socioeconomic issues, human biology, and health interact. Health and well-being, productivity at work, and the possibility for overall economic and human development are all impacted by nutritional status.
By analysing the diets of early humans, the history of food and human food revolutions, as well as modern industrial and biotechnological food production, nutritional anthropology also examines human food usage and nutrition from an anthropological perspective. Nutritional anthropology also looks at the economic aspects of food production and distribution as well as the cultural and social implications of food and nutrition.
Additionally, it addresses some of the most important issues surrounding how social and cultural elements affect our fundamental biological needs for food, the role of social factors in mediating food distribution and availability, and how environment and culture impact human nutrition. In addition to studying food, health, and society, nutritional anthropology also looks at the physiologic effects of food across time, place, culture, and society. Foods have both material and immaterial dimensions, and diet or cuisine is best understood in the particular context in which it arose, according to an integrated bio-behavioural approach.
Body mass index, which is frequently used and taken to indicate the level of body fat and nutritional status in these circumstances. Depending on the age of the study group, BMI can capture the majority of the pertinent variance in nutritional status and body fatness in large epidemiological investigations. However, gathering data on body fat distribution, including measurements of the waist and hip circumferences, the waist to hip ratio, the waist stature ratio, and skinfold thickness, can offer additional insights when evaluating populations.
Assignment – III
Answer the following questions in about 100 words each.
Q6) Applications of Biological Anthropology. 5
Ans) The Applications of Biological Anthropology are as follows:
Static measures can be used to calculate the required clearance around the body as well as the space needed to fit people. Dynamic measurements are crucial because while working, various body parts move and the products to be employed are developed as a result.
An essential way for determining a person's health and nutritional state is anthropometry and the examination of clinical symptoms. Among the primary techniques employed by anthropologists in the evaluation of growth and nutritional status, particularly among children of various groups, are indices like BMI, weight for age, height for age, etc.
The study of human origin and dispersion at the DNA level through molecular anthropology entails the identification of genetic codes that determine disease susceptibility and resistance, and subsequently, determinants of adaptation, which are likely to be found in various human populations belonging to various echo niches.
Physical anthropologists have specialised understanding of the human skeleton, teeth, hair, fingerprints, saliva and blood genetics, DNA sequencing, and archaeological techniques, which they use to identify crime victims, criminals, and victims of accidents and armed conflicts.
Q7) Secular changes and trends 5
Ans) Secular change, as it relates to growth, describes variations throughout time in a population's typical pattern of child development. Some writers prefer the word trend to shift. Following a brief overview of secular variations in body proportions and composition, the positive secular trends and halt of secular trends in stature and age of menarche are discussed for industrialised countries. All three categories of secular trends are illustrated by data from developing nations. While certain demographic groups exhibit positive changes in size and age at menarche, others exhibit neither secular change nor unfavourable secular trends. Last but not least, studies comparing estimated statures in earlier European populations point to a negative secular trend, or a drop in estimated stature, from the 11th to the 19th centuries, which is followed by a positive secular trend beginning in the middle of the 19th century.
Q8) Genetic markers as criteria of racial classification 5
Ans) Humans are frequently characterised by physically obvious characteristics such skin and hair colour, hair form, and distinctive features of the nose, eyes, lips, and face. For the initial stages of human taxonomy, only one criterion was applied. The genotype-phenotype correlations for the polygenic inheritance of morphological features are unclear. The basic argument made against these qualities to gauge the genetic separation of human populations is that they are adaptive in nature. The morphological characteristics can be divided into two main groups: somatoscopic characteristics, which are difficult to measure precisely and are based solely on visual observation, and anthropometric characteristics, which can be precisely measured using standardised techniques like stature, head length, head breadth, and other body measurements. The concept of race from physical characteristics was supplemented by the gene frequencies at distinct polymorphic genetic loci. The following genetic markers were investigated for racial differences in humans throughout the first half of the 20th century based on their relative phenotypic frequency.
Q9) Human Genome Project 5
Ans) To reconstruct human evolution and population history, to identify the common ancestor, to track the origin, history, and spread of disease-causing mutations, to link morphological variation to genetic variation, to facilitate comparative genome sequencing of human and non-human primates, and for other purposes, HGP is useful to molecular anthropologists. A project on human diversity was started to record the variety in order to comprehend our past. To identify single nucleotide polymorphisms, copy number variations, and repeats in 1000 genes with biomedically significant metabolic, genetic network, and pharmacogenetic relevance in the Indian population, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India commissioned the Indian genome variation study.
Q10) Bipedalism 5
Ans) Human bipedalism is the result of numerous adaptive musculoskeletal features that fundamentally altered human ancestry. These adaptive characteristics are the result of long-term changes to the spinal column, pelvis, lower limbs, and feet. Paleoanthropologists place the evolution of bipedalism five to six million years ago as the dividing line between apes and hominids. The first signs of human bipedalism can be found at the Laetoli site in northern Tanzania. Bipedalism developed a few million years before brains, as evidenced by the discovery of early hominid fossils with brains the size of apes and anatomy that was suitable for walking on two feet.
Example: Foramen magnum position may be utilised to determine bipedal adaptations in fossil hominins because of the distinctive position of the foramen magnum linked with bipedalism and erect posture in humans compared to other extant orthograde primates.
Q11) Criticism of various classifications of Races. 5
Ans) The criticism of various classifications of races are as follows:
Arbitrary and Crude
Racial admixture has been taking place along with conflict between various tribes, which most likely caused the change in gene pools and gene frequencies. Human groupings are flexible, and they frequently alter their environments. Different groupings may have formed as a result of racial mingling.
Geographic Distribution as a Limiting Factor
People with a wide range of similar traits can be found in various locations that are very distant from one another. On the other hand, given the geographic discontinuity, these might not have been a part of that group.
Overlapping of Characteristics
The traits used to classify races exhibit continuity, making it challenging to choose appropriate cut-off points for each trait. For a characteristic to be considered a classifying trait, within group variability for that characteristic must be substantially lower than between group variations.
No Genetic Basis
The gene frequencies of various genetic features have been determined by anthropologists after extensive research into the genetic composition of various ethnicities. The optimal approach would have been to take into account a variety of genetic features to identify commonalities among the members of a certain group before naming it as a distinct group.
