The best short term adaption the human body has is it's ability to sweat. Our bodies sweat in order to attempt to cool down our body temperature if it rises too high. However if the weather is dry sweating too much can cost the body water and salt which could cause death if not remedied quickly.
A bodies facultative adaptation to heat is the process of vasodilation. What vasodilation does is expand the blood vessels to increase blood flow to the area of the body where it's needed most. In regards to overheating of the body what vasodilation does is bring the heated blood to the skin where it can be released into the atmosphere.
A developmental adaptation to heat is bipedalism. Over time we as humans have gained the ability to walk on two legs. There are many benefits of bipedalism to our species, one of those benefits is that by walking upright our bodies are in less contact with heat from the sun.
A cultural adaptation to extreme heat is the invention of air conditioning. While not all people have access to air conditioning, those who do use it to maintain low body temperature. Our clothes are also a method we can use to control our body temperature by removing them when it gets warm.
3. The benefit of studying the heat in regards to human variation helps us understand how to survive in different environments. By understanding how people survive in harsh climates we can learn how to survive in those climates as well.
4. I'm not sure we can use race to understand how to adapt to certain weather conditions. I believe we can learn more from the culture of a group of people in order to survive. I believe this because people of different races are capable to survive in most every environment. It's just that a different culture have adapted to their environment and are used to it.
I enjoyed reading your selection of high temperatures, 'heat' as an example of environmental stresses. I feel you gave a good example of how important homeostasis is to the human body. I found it interesting that a developmental adaptation to heat is bipedalism and that by walking upright our bodies less likely to contact heat. Your example of a cultural adaptation and your describe benefits of studying human variation reminds me of athlete appeal companies. Take ‘Under Armor’ for example, their clothing is known for helping keeping the body cool during workout. Lastly, I feel that race is not a factor in understanding the adaptation of environments because race is only a classification of our characteristics. Nice Post!!
ReplyDeleteGood images!
ReplyDeleteGood explanation on the dangers of heat stress and how it negatively impacts the human body.
Yes, sweating is a short term adaptation, but how does it work? Is it the sweat itself or the evaporation of sweat that helps cool the body?
Good discussion on vasodilation.
One of the arguments for the evolution of bipedalism is that it reduced the amount of skin directly hit by the sun, which reduced the threat of heat stress. This is an interesting idea, but recognize that it is one of several hypotheses. One of the problems with this idea is that the one part of the body that can tolerate heat the least, namely the head, carrying around the brain which just HATES heat, is the part most exposed to the sun in the bipedal position. Yes, we kept our hair on our head, but still, that raises questions about the validity of this argument.
Good cultural adaptation.
Yes, we can learn how to survive in other climates, but can you offer a specific example of how understanding the ways our bodies adapt to heat stress can be used in a practical,productive, concrete way. Can we create tools or clothing to help us deal with heat stress from this knowledge?
"I believe we can learn more from the culture of a group of people in order to survive."
I agree that race is not useful in understanding human variation, but you can't use culture either to understand biological variations. Cultural adaptations, yes, but not biological. That is why the adaptive approach is needed as it helps to explain both the biological adaptations and the cultural ones. It is a common cause of both, whereas race doesn't cause anything. It just describes and in a biased, subjective, culturally dependent fashion.