Reflection of Anthropology Class

Name of Student
Professor’s Name
Course Title
Date of Submission
REFLECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY CLASS
Introduction
Evolution refers to the biological changes that occur in organisms over a certain period.The changes involve hereditary characteristics and gene frequencies of organisms. As a result, there is diversification at every biological organization stage. Molecules, individual organisms, and Species are affected by the diversification (Lewis, 2).
Personal Reflections
Before undertaking the lesson on Evolution Anthropology, I believed that the existence of mankind on earth was occasioned by God the Creator of the Universe. From my biblical knowledge, it was God who created the first human being on earth known as Adam and later on created Eve who was to be a helper to Adam. The first man was created in the image of God who used a part of the man’s body to create Eve as a woman. It is at this point that God gave the first human kind ability to procreate and fill the entire universe.
Since God created man in His own image, man has continued filling the earth through reproduction. Modern men are just replicas of the first human kind which existed millions of years ago. However, there are slight changes in their appearance of modern men compared to the ancient ones. The changes are as a result of climatic changes, the invention of modern machines and equipment’s that have changed the face of the earth greatly. It is from this perspective that I have always understood the existence of human beings on earth.

However, after going through Evolution anthropology class, I have got more information regarding the different stages of the existence of mankind (Bell, 8). For instance, evolution states that all living things on Earth have a common ancestor including man. The common ancestor is believed to have lived about 3.6 to 3.9 billion years ago and was known as LUCA. According to research carried out all these living organisms have several genes related to the first ancestor. It is through different evolution stages like speciation, anagenesis, and extinction that different organisms exist on earth including man (Ayala & Avise, 12). The existence and life of man thus could be explained through biochemical and morphological traits where there are DNA sequences. It from these DNA sequences that a biological lineage can easily be traced by relying on both available fossils and species.
Biodiversity patterns currently witnessed are as a result of extinction and speciation. It is from this basis that Charles Darwin came up with a scientific theory of evolution pegged on natural selection. During the 19th century, Darwin through his natural selection method illustrated that several living organisms are brought forth and yet not all of them can survive hence the theory coming into the picture. According to the natural selection method, there is phenotypic variation where traits are different in terms of behavior, physiology and morphology for all living organisms (Wiley & Lieberman, 6). There is also a difference when it comes to the rate of reproduction and survival. The third fact about this theory is that there is heredity of genes from one living organism to another thus giving modern men an opportunity to adapt and survive in the ever changing environment due to natural selection.
According to the evolution theory, heritable traits initiate the changes in human beings (Lewis, 4). Genes are in-charge of controlling the inherited traits within the body of a living organism. For instance, in human beings, one can easily inherit the brown color of the eyes from the parents. DNA is a molecule that encodes genetic information and responsible for transferring of heritable traits from one generation to the next (Bell, 16). It is the DNA that will determine the character of the new human being having transferred some traits from the original parents. Heredity takes place on larger magnitudes like the process of niche construction where ecological inheritance takes place characterized by the continuous activities of human beings within an environment.
Variation in the appearance of modern men comes as a result of phenotype variation and the surrounding environment. The type of gene will determine the allele with its frequency being pegged on the prevalence of the gene (Ayala & Avise, 17). Once a new allele is ready to be fixed by either replacing the original allele or disappearing from the population, variation ceases to take place. In the long run, natural selection can only take place when there is an adequate variation of genes within the population.
Modern human variation is as a result of a mutation which takes place in the DNA of a cell’s genome. The mutation prevents the gene from functioning normally and at times damages the cell completely. Huge parts of the chromosome are duplicated through genetic recombination and can easily bring more copies of the gene into a genome (Wiley & Lieberman, 15). For new genes to evolve extra duplicates of the genes are required for raw materials, and thus if not available the entire process flops. In the event that a duplicate copy of the gene mutates from the ancestral gene, it acquires new functions.
Conclusion
Some of the assumptions changed after going through the evolution anthropology class and understanding what brings about changes in human beings, and yet I assumed they originated from one ancestor. Currently, there are people of different appearance and races all over the world, and this has been explained by the evolution theory through mutation and variation processes. During my study, the most influential topics were on gene flow, heredity, mutation, variation and sex and recombination. Since am now informed about different issues to do with the existence of mankind, I will approach human evolution from a scientific perspective.
Works Cited
Ayala, Francisco & Avise, John. Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology. Baltimore, MD:
Johns Hopkins University Press. 2014. Print
Bell, Graham. Selection: The Mechanism of Evolution. (2nd ed.). Oxford; New York: Oxford
University Press.2008. Print
Lewis, Ralph. “Theory and the Fact of Evolution.” Creation/Evolution Journal. Washington, D.C.:
National Center for Science Education.8 (22):34-37.2015.Print
Wiley, Edward & Lieberman, Bruce. Phylogenetics: Theory and Practice of Phylogenetic
Systematics (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell. 2011. Print