Paper Example on Bio-Cultural Diversity

Introduction

The main idea of evolution is the passing of a new trait, which has helped a species to survive, from the species to their offspring. The offspring in turn develops their own new trait to survive and passes this new one to the next generation. Evolution, apart from being through genetic change, also has a cultural component to. This cultural component in evolution is what is referred to as biocultural evolution; implying that there is a biological and cultural impact in shaping evolution(especially in humans). Over the years there has been a conspicuous change in culture caused by some factors such as technology improvements and cultural interaction among human beings which have in turn changed the environment in which we live in and causing us to evolve (Weinert & Timaris, 2003).

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Various human patterns are evident so far, for example, people with dark skins are normally found to be living in areas close to the equator while those with lighter skins live further from the equator and on the poles. The reason is that:

Darker skins have a higher concentration of melanin while lighter skins have a lower concentration. This feature helps darker skins to protect the skin better from harmful UV rays of the sun. However, there is more to the relationship of the skin and the sun. The sun provides vitamin D to the human skin which helps in absorbing calcium and builds strong and healthy bones. The lack of it however may lead to muscle pain soft and brittle bones and their pain (Chaplin, Jablonski & Nina,2003).

According to Chaplin et.al, (2003), the worldwide pattern of human skin color is as a result of natural selection with the body trying to reduce the effect of the harmful UV rays on the skin and on reproductive nutrients. (Jablonski, 2003) This means that people living in the different areas of the world have skins adaptable to the environmental conditions of that area.

It is evident that change is a phenomenon that is always constant. Species have to adapt to these changes to survive; this in turn means that evolution will also continue with species acquiring new traits to give to their offspring. With the uncertainty of the future, one can only predict it.

With the rate of urbanization and depletion of forest cover due to population increase and industrialization, the temperatures in future are bound to increase and thus human beings will have to evolve to survive. Humans will have lesser hair cover to adapt the skin to the increase in environmental heat. Their skins may also grow darker depending on how close you are to the equator. Heightened stress levels will also be a future characteristics bringing about a lower mortality rate with many developing depression symptoms such as growing white hair at an earlier age than expected (Doreen, 1999).

Conclusion

With the world we live in today being more focused on the artificial more that the natural. More areas are becoming urbanized meaning thus, on one hand, there is less forest cover and on the other there is an increase in machinery; which in turn bring a lot of pollution to the environment. The diversity will definitely change the human lifestyle and behavior in the future. Humans exposed to a depleted ozone layer are at a risk of exposure to harmful UV rays. This kind of lifestyle also comes with an array of diseases with the main one being cancer. This will force humans to adapt by looking for more remedies to avert these diseases and other consequences of this changing lifestyle (Sashur, 2018).

References

Doreen, K (1999). Sex differences in the brain. America; Scientific American, Inc.

Weinert, B., & Timiras, P., (2003). Theories of aging. University of California; J appl physiol 95.

Nina G. Jablonski & Chaplin,G., (2003). Skin deep. Scientific American, Inc.

Sashur, H., (2018). Human life cycle part 1 Physical Anthropology. https://youtu.be/dA1toXsFeGg

Sashur, H, (2018). Human variation Body size and Infectious disease- Physical Anthropology. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVKdhtkjAH4

Sashur, H, (2018). Human life cycle part 2 Physical Anthropology. https://youtu.be/dA1toXsFeGg