Human Physical Adaptation

Social Science I Second Semester, SY 20102010-2011 UP Visayas

Adaptation
- long-term (evolutionary) changes that characterize all individuals within a population or species - functional response to environmental conditions in populations and individuals

Adaptation at Various Levels

1. Genetic adaptation the evolution of advantageous characteristics 2. Developmental adaptation the acquiring of appropriate responses when an individual grows up in a particular environment 3. LongLong-term acclimatization acquired over the years but reversible under environmental change

Adaptation at Various Levels

4. Seasonal acclimatization reverses itself during the annual cycle Example: tanning 5. ShortShort-term acclimatization manifest in daily or irregular responses to conditions

Skin Color Adaptation

Skin color : hemoglobin, carotene, and melanin Melanin chief skin pigment - a granular substance produced by specialized cells in the epidermis called melanocytes.

Skin Color Adaptation

Melanin absorbs ultraviolet rays present in sunlight; provides protection from overexposure to ultraviolet radiation which can cause mutations in skin cells. Adaptive response: Exposure to sunlight triggers increased melanin production

Skin Color Adaptation

Natural selection appears to favor dark skin in areas where exposure to ultraviolet light is pronounced. Darker skin inhibits sunburn more Note: cultural adaptation is also important.

Skin Color Adaptation

Another important note: After hundreds of years, Europeans in the tropics are still light and African Americans in the US are still dark. After several thousands of years, however, American Indians in the tropics are slightly darker than those in North America.

Skin Color Adaptation

Vitamin D - Necessary for normal bone growth and mineralization - Synthesized in the body partly as a result of the interaction of ultraviolet radiation and a substance similar to cholesterol

Skin Color Adaptation

Vitamin D Hypothesis - selection of lighter skin in high latitude areas for vitamin D synthesis. Evidences: Latter decades of the 19th century: African American inhabitants of US northern cities suffered a higher incidence of rickets than whites In Britain, dark-skinned East Indians and Pakistanis show a higher incidence of rickets

Adapting to Climate Extremes

- Mammals and birds have evolved complex mechanisms for increasing or reducing of body heat to maintain a constant internal body temperature (homeothermy)

Adapting to Climate Extremes

Hypothermia life threatening drop in core body temperature to subnormal levels - Begins to occur when core body temperature drops to 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 degrees Celsius) Note: human body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37.0 degrees Celsius).

Adapting to Climate Extremes

Hyperthermia rising of body temperature to fatal levels - Begins to occur when core body temperature rises to 105-107 degrees Fahrenheit (40.64.17degrees Celsius) result in deterioration of internal organs, and death.

Response to Heat
- In humans, sweat glands (approximately 1.6 million) are distributed throughout the skin make possible the loss of heat at the body surface through evaporative cooling - Reduced amounts of body hairhair enhances the cooling effects of sweating

Response to Heat
Vasodilation expansion of blood vessel permitting blood flow to the skin. - Permits heat, carried by the blood from the interior of the body, to be emitted from the skins surface to the surrounding air. - An involuntary response to warm temperatures, various drugs, and even emotional states (e.g., blushing).

Response to Heat

Body Size and Proportion - In general, body size (weight) increases as distance from the equator increases

Response to Heat
Bergmanns Rule - from German biologist Carl Bergmann - concerns relationship of body mass or volume to surface area: as mass increases, the relative amount of surface area decreases proportionately.

Response to Heat
Bergmanns Rule : Volume increases twice as fast as the surface area. Less surface area results in less heat being lost from animals.

Response to Heat
Allens Rule - from American biologist Joel Allen. Allen noted that individuals in populations of the same species living in warm climates near the equator tend to have longer limbs than do populations living further away from the equator (in colder environments)

Response to Heat
Allens Rule - Masia tribe of East Africa: normally tall and slender: long limbs assist in the loss of body heat

Response to Heat
Allens Rule - concerns shape of body, especially appendages - in colder climates, shorter appendages are adaptive because they are more effective at preventing heat loss

Response to Heat

Whats the suitable body shape in

Hot climate? Cold climate?

Response to Cold
- heat production and heat retention - Short term responses: increased metabolic rate and shivering Vasoconstriction - Narrowing of blood vessels to reduce blood flow to the skin. - Reduces heat loss at the skins surface

Response to Cold
Nasal index
- The average ratio of the width to the length of the nose - Nasal index throughout the world is highly correlated with climate - Noses are narrower in colder regions - Nose form seems to be adapted to the degree of need to moisten the air one inhales

Adapting to High Altitude

Two major kinds of environmental stresses at high altitude areas: 1. Alternating daily extremes of climate 2. Lower air pressure - air pressure decreases as altitude increases

Adapting to High Altitude

Hypoxia oxygen deprivation - inability to do normal physical activities; lack of appetite, distorted vision, difficulty with memorizing and thinking clearly - pneumonia-like symptoms and abnormal accumulation of fluid around the brain - reproduction may be affected; low birth weight

Adapting to High Altitude

Adult acclimatization occurs in people born at low elevation upon exposure to high altitude - Increase in respiration rate, heart rate, production of red blood cells Developmental acclimatization occurs in highaltitude natives - Greater lung capacity, more efficient (than migrants) at diffusing oxygen from blood to body tissues.