1. Gradualism is when organisms change very slowly over time to create a new species. Gradualism is applied in terms of social change to infer the development of social constitutions and changes over an amount of time. Punctuated equilibrium has no changes for long periods of time but is then followed by extremely rapid change. An example of punctuated equilibrium could be the presence of bipedalism in humans or when the brain changed from being just an ordinary tool for human survival to the incredible marvel it has become today ( answers.yahoo ). Ernst Mayr’s concept of genetic revolutions by peripatric and allopatric speciation in 1954 as well as Niles Eldridge and Stephen Jay Gould’s paper in 1972 typically gave rise to punctuated equilibrium ( paleautonomy.com ).
2. Plodders are creatures that move around heavily and work or move slowly and monotonously for many hours. Natural selection is a theory that only the strongest will live, survival of the fittest, meaning if this theory is real and happens on earth plodders do not stand a good chance of living long lives.
3. Fogel used height as an indicator of health because “it’s net for nutrition, infectious disease, sanitation, and demands placed on the body.” It began a trend in America and people worldwide where humans where growing larger. For example, Fogel said, “most slaves, especially those on smaller plantations, were fed better and lived in better conditions than freemen in the North” and because of this they had longer and healthier lives. Another more specific example is in 1850 the average height for a full grown man was five foot seven inches and the average weight was 146 pounds, but by 1980 the average man was five foot ten and weighed 174 pounds. Radical changes such as these came about by advances in food production and distribution, sanitation, public health, and medicine. These advances led to the trend of larger, harder working humans because “ the health and nutrition of one...