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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.
A well-known example of a cline is the skin color gradation in indigenous human populations worldwide, which is related to latitude and amounts of sunlight. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] Ecotypes may display two or more distinct and discontinuous phenotypes even within the same population.
Adaptation affects all aspects of the life of an organism. [24] The following definitions are given by the evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky: 1. Adaptation is the evolutionary process whereby an organism becomes better able to live in its habitat or habitats. [25] [26] [27] 2.
Human populations such as some Tibetans, South Americans and Ethiopians live in the otherwise uninhabitable high mountains of the Himalayas, Andes and Ethiopian Highlands respectively. The adaptation of humans to high altitude is an example of natural selection in action. [2]
Figure 16.5 Some examples of these are building seawalls or inland flood defenses, providing new insurance schemes, changing crop planting times or varieties, and installing green roofs or green spaces. Adaptation can be reactive (responding to climate impacts as they happen) or proactive (taking steps in anticipation of future climate change).
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 ...
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 ...
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]