1. Select only ONE of the following environmental stresses: (a) heat, (b) high levels of solar radiation, (c) cold, or (d) high altitude. Discuss specifically how this environmental stress negatively impacts the survival of humans by disturbing homeostasis.
A: Heat is an environmental stress that negatively impacts the survival of humans by disturbing homeostasis. With heat can bring heat rashes, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke. Heat rashes occur when the sweat glands become clogged from too much sweating or not enough circulation to the area. Heat exhaustion may occur after you’ve been exposed to high temperatures for several days and have developed dehydration. Heatstroke is caused by prolonged exposure to high temperatures or by doing physical activity in hot weather. You are considered to have a heatstroke when your body temperature reaches 104 F or higher.
2. Identify 4 ways in which humans have adapted to this stress, choosing one specific adaptation from each of the different types of adaptations listed above (short term, facultative, developmental and cultural). Include images of the adaptations.
A: A Short Term Adaptation for heat is sweating. It’s the body’s way of trying to cool itself down. You just need to make sure to replenish the water and electrolytes you’re losing.
A Facultative Adaptation for heat is skin tone, with a darker skin tone you can absorb the heat, and with a lighter skin tone you reflect the heat. Why when you’re wearing black in the summer you’re warmer than if you’re wearing white. But it’s harder to change the color of you skin than it is a shirt.
A Developmental Adaptation for heat is bipedalism, when standing on only two legs we are less exposed to the heat from the sun, it hits less surface area on us. It also enabled our skin to have more contact with cooler and faster moving breezes.
A: The benefit of studying heat on human variation helps us to figure out how to adapt to our environment. We know how to deal with heat. We avoid it, embrace it, or tolerate it. We know we have to stay hydrated and protected so we aren’t harmed by it. Yet people still are. We’ve come up with air conditioners, shade structures, buildings, light clothing, swimming pools, etc.
4. How would you use race to understand the variation of the adaptations you listed in #2? Explain why the study of environmental influences on adaptations is a better way to understand human variation than by the use of race.
4 comments:
I don't know why it has high lighted the last sentence to make it unreadable. If you high light it you can read it. I tried to fix it more than once and it's not changing it.
Good post and good pictures! Especially the facultative and developmental examples were interesting. I have never even thought about it, but made a lot of sense.
As a quick note, I would have preferred to see images of real people in this assignment rather than cartoons. Using real pictures makes your work seem more professional. That being said, I think you did a good job with this post. You included information I did not know about. I was already aware of heat exhaustion and heatstroke, but was not familiar with heat rashes. I'm going to try to protect myself from this condition during the summer. Good work.
Very good post. I especially liked your identification of bipedalism as a developmental adaptation. That isn't commonly mentioned, but it is absolutely correct.
You mention that reducing clothing is an adaptation to heat, but then why do some cultures respond by completely covering their bodies, such as saharan populations?
Good job. I do agree with Aidan's comment regarding images. Photographs would have had a better impact with what was a very good post.
When you highlight something and need to unhighlight it, sometimes you just have to erase it and start over. No worries.
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