Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Human ecology may be defined: (1) from a bio-ecological standpoint as the study of man as the ecological dominant in plant and animal communities and systems; (2) from a bio-ecological standpoint as simply another animal affecting and being affected by his physical environment; and (3) as a human being, somehow different from animal life in ...
Adaptations in humans can be physiological, genetic, or cultural, which allow people to live in a wide variety of climates. There has been a great deal of research done on developmental adjustment, acclimatization, and cultural practices, but less research on genetic adaptations to colder and hotter temperatures.
Cultural ecology as developed by Steward is a major subdiscipline of anthropology. It derives from the work of Franz Boas and has branched out to cover a number of aspects of human society, in particular the distribution of wealth and power in a society, and how that affects such behaviour as hoarding or gifting (e.g. the tradition of the potlatch on the Northwest North American coast).
Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) describes a variety of approaches for adapting to climate change, all of which involve the management of ecosystems to reduce the vulnerability of human communities to the impacts of climate change such as storm and flood damage to physical assets, coastal erosion, salinisation of freshwater resources, and loss of agricultural productivity.
Instead, adaptation addresses the risks of climate impacts that arise from the way climate-related hazards interact with the exposure and vulnerability of human and ecological systems. [ 10 ] : 145–146 Exposure refers to the presence of people, livelihoods, ecosystems and other assets in places that could suffer negative effects. [ 1 ]
All adaptations help organisms survive in their ecological niches. The adaptive traits may be structural, behavioural or physiological . Structural adaptations are physical features of an organism, such as shape, body covering, armament, and internal organization .
Ecological anthropology is a sub-field of anthropology and is defined as the "study of cultural adaptations to environments". [1] The sub-field is also defined as, "the study of relationships between a population of humans and their biophysical environment ". [ 2 ]
Depending on geographical and environmental pressures, high-altitude adaptation involves different genetic patterns, some of which have evolved not long ago. For example, Tibetan adaptations became prevalent in the past 3,000 years, an example of rapid recent human evolution. At the turn of the 21st century, it was reported that the genetic ...