ISS 310 003 People and Environment Exam I Study Guide Please note that this study guide is NOT comprehensive and should only act to direct your course of study To prepare for the exam it is recommended that you fill in the outline of each lecture section using your class notes and answer the questions listed at the end of each section I Lecture Environmental Basics Outline 1 Environment a Divisions i Physical ii Natural iii Social Cultural 2 Physical abiotic a Definition b Static and dynamic components nonliving components of the environment i Static ii Dynamic mountains forests islands volcanoes glaciers rivers weather c Studying the abiotic environment i Geology Physical Geography materials that make it up and the processes that act on it d Climate The scientific study of climates and their phenomena ii Climatology Scientific study of the earth its origins and evolution the i Types 1 5 major types ii Climate and weather 1 Climate surface 2 Weather tropical dry temperate cold polar the average atmospheric conditions of a particular region on the earth s the large fluctuations in the atmosphere from hour to hour day to day 3 Natural biotic everything that is alive biological on the planet a Definition b Studying the biotic environment i Three main fields 1 Biologists 2 Physical Geo ecologists biomes and ecosystems c Biomes i Types and sub types 1 Forests tropical temperate boreal 2 Aquatic freshwater and marine salt 3 Grassland temperate and savannah 4 Desert hot dry semiarid coastal and cold 5 Tundra arctic and alpine focus on elements of the natural environment types of plants and animals focus on comprehensive areas of the environment like d Ecosystems i Defining live 1 All the biological organisms in a particular region and the environment in which they 2 Each component of an ecosystem is interdependent with the others for the maintenance of the whole ii Identifying 1 Vary in size and composition 2 Small scale ecosystem ex Lake Lansing 3 Large scale ex planet earth 4 Can be composed of portions or combinations of climates and biomes 4 Social Cultural SCE a Physical the ways in which humans and their actions interact with and affect the biotic and abiotic an environment defined by human behaviors independent of place environments b Conceptual c Studying the SCE i Academic Fields include 1 Political science 2 Geography 3 Sociology 4 Social Psychology 5 Anthropology Questions 1 What are the differences between a physical natural and social cultural environment Physical environment non living Natural environment everything that is living Social cultural interactions both physically and conceptually 2 What are the five major climate types Tropical dry temperate cold polar 3 What are the major biome types Forests aquatic grassland desert tundra 4 Are the terms climate and weather synonymous They are not Climate average Weather day to day 5 How do you identify a biome ecosystem social cultural environment Biome large geographic area of plants and animals that are adapted to that environment Ecosystem all the biological organisms in a particular region and environment in which they live in Social Cultural Environment 6 Be able to define all of the major concepts presented in the outline above YUP II Lecture Anthropology Basics Outline 1 Anthropology a Stereotypes b Defined c Space Time d Human variability i Only study exotic cultures particular indigenous hunter gathers ii Only study stones and bones the holistic study of human cultural and biological variation across space and time i Anthropologists consider human biological and cultural patterns across the face of the earth today as well as the origins and changes in biology and culture in the past i Anthropologists also focus on human variability or similarities and differences ii Differences and similarities can be examined from social cultural and physical biological perspectives 2 The four sub disciplines of anthropology a Physical anthropology of human development b Archaeology i Examines questions of human physical evolution including biological adaptation and issues i Examines human culture and cultural evolution from the past to present through their material remains traces ii Also looks at cultural adaptation i Explains the ways in which languages are used to communicate ideas and affect social and i Studies culture actively through observation of living communities Has the greatest ability to c Linguistic anthropology cultural actions d Ethnology cultural anthropology study a culture holistically 3 The concept of culture a Culture is the central concept in anthropology 4 The 8 characteristics of culture a Diverse cumulative integrated dynamic symbolic adaptive learned shared Questions 1 Describe the difference between an Emic and Etic perspective Emic Describing a culture from the perspective of someone inside the society culture under study Etic describing a culture from the perspective of an outsider E T 2 What are the 8 characteristics of culture Diverse cumulative integrated dynamic symbolic adaptive learned shared 3 How do you define culture the general way of life of a group of people 4 What are the four sub disciplines of anthropology Physical Anthropology Archaeology Linguistic Anthropology Sociocultural Anthropology Read Chapter 1 in Townsend Questions 1 What is ethnography Writing about people The scientific description of a culture 2 Be familiar with the lifeway of the Aniyo Hiyowe i e birth rate death rate etc Infant and early childhood mortality was very high with just over half of the children surviving the first few years of life Fertility was not very high either an average woman who lived past the age of 50 gave birth to 5 children but many women died young III Lecture Environmental Anthropology Outline 1 Roots of Environmental Anthropology a Cultural Ecology i Three traditions 1 2 Arcadian 3 Scientific Imperialist humans conquer nature humans in harmony with nature theorizing the relationship between humans and nature ii Early Scientific theories in Cultural Ecology 1 Environmental Determinism must adapt 2 Possibilism chooses a solution best suited to them 3 Cultural evolution a Unilinear Cultural Evolution b Multilinear Cultural Evolution c Neoevolution environment dictates what a culture must do or how it a variety of solutions are present in any environment and a culture culture evolve upward on a single line the evolution of cultures along many lines i Leslie White 1949 cultures are constantly