| adaptation | The process by which organisms cope with environmental stresses.
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| anthropology | The study of the human species and its immediate ancestors.
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| applied anthropology | The application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems.
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| archaeological anthropology | The branch of anthropology that reconstructs, describes, and interprets human behavior and cultural patterns through material remains; best known for the study of prehistory. Also known as "archaeology."
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| biocultural | Referring to the inclusion and combination (to solve a common problem) of both biological and cultural approaches—one of anthropology's hallmarks.
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| biological (or physical) anthropology | The branch of anthropology that studies human biological diversity in time and space—for instance, hominid evolution, human genetics, human biological adaptation; also includes primatology (behavior and evolution of monkeys and apes). Also called physical anthropology.
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| cultural anthropology | The study of human society and culture; describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences.
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| cultural resource management (CRM) | The branch of applied archaeology aimed at preserving sites threatened by dams, highways, and other projects.
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| cultures | Traditions and customs that govern behavior and beliefs; distinctly human; transmitted through learning.
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| ethnography | Field work in a particular culture.
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| ethnology | The theoretical, comparative study of society and culture; compares cultures in time and space.
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| food production | Plant cultivation and animal domestication.
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| general anthropology | The field of anthropology as a whole, consisting of cultural, archaeological, biological, and linguistic anthropology.
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| holistic | Interested in the whole of the human condition past, present, and future; biology, society, language, and culture.
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| linguistic anthropology | The branch of anthropology that studies linguistic variation in time and space, including interrelations between language and culture; includes historical linguistics and sociolinguistics.
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| natural selection | Originally formulated by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace; the process by which nature selects the forms most fit to survive and reproduce in a given environment, such as the tropics.
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| phenotype | An organism's evident traits, its "manifest biology"—anatomy and physiology.
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| racial classification | The attempt to assign humans to discrete categories (purportedly) based on common ancestry.
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| science | A systematic field of study or body of knowledge that aims, through experiment, observation, and deduction, to produce reliable explanations of phenomena, with reference to the material and physical world.
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| sociolinguistics | Study of relationships between social and linguistic variation; study of language in its social context.
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| tropics | Geographic belt extending about 23 degrees north and south of the equator, between the Tropic of Cancer (north) and the Tropic of Capricorn (south).
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