Week 8
1.
Homeostasis is the process through which an organism
maintains certain internal conditions such as the humans body temperature. For
example, heat. Humans internal body temperature must be at a specific
temperature to prevent heating or overheating. This process is important as it
keeps our organs and even cells working properly. If the human body becomes too
hot, it is possible for people to overheat and have complications.
2.
Four ways that human have adapted to stress are cultural
practices and technology as well as acclimatization and developmental
acclimatization which is responding while growing. Finally, evolution. Developmental
traits are changes in DNA of a population. These are traits that you are born with. They can change during development depending
upon environmental factors like nutrition.
3.
Human Variation is extremely important because
is our genetics. Human genetics helps us understand the human body as well as
discover and know the genetic contribution to many diseases.
4.
Race can influence a population by influencing
nutrition, tool use, reproductive behaviors, clothing, and social practices. Environmental
influences gives us a better understanding of adaptation better than race
because environmental influences the way a population develops because it has
to adapt to external factors.
I see one image but it doesn't directly indicate the specific traits you are discussing. It just represents a pictorial representation of the relationship between genetics and the environment (several aspects of it).
ReplyDeleteOkay on your opening section, but can you get more specific on what happens internally if the body temperature rises too high? Why can't the body function well above that optimum temperature of 98.6 degrees?
In your next section, you are describing how these four types of adaptations (short-term, facultative, developmental and cultural) are delineated but you don't actually identify examples of each of these traits in terms of adaptations to heat stress. Examples of these are included in your readings and in the activities in this week's modules.
Examples of what could be included here:
Short-term: Sweating, or 'evaporative cooling', which helps to take excess heat from the surface of the skin as sweat evaporations.
Facultative: Vasodilation, which opens the capillaries near the skin's surface to help release excess body heat to air around the body.
Developmental: Long, lean body shapes, as per Bergmann's and Allen's rules in hot environments.
Cultural: Lighter clothing, well-ventilated housing, limiting activity during cooler parts of the day, etc.
You aren't answering the question in #3. What are the practical, useful implications of the adaptive approach. How can we use this information in a way to benefit society. Yes, it helps to understand human genetics, but that is only partially the issue here, since not all adaptations involves a genetic response.
"Race can influence a population by influencing nutrition, tool use, reproductive behaviors, clothing, and social practices. "
Again, that isn't the question. Is it possible to use race to understand why humans vary, and I would also argue against the idea that race influences the issues you raise. The problem here is that you need to try to understand what race actually is in order to understand this question. Race is not based in biology but is a social construct, based in beliefs and preconceptions, and used only to categorize humans into groups based upon external physical features, much like organizing a box of crayons by color. Race does not *cause* adaptations like environmental stress do, and without that causal relationship, you can't use race to explain adaptations. Race has no explanatory value over human variation.
If you have problems with an assignment, you should email with questions to clarify any points of confusion. As this is the last assignment, this recommendation doesn't help much here, but keep this in mind in your future classes. Read assignments early to give yourself time to contact your instructor ahead of time with questions.
Hello Daisy,
ReplyDeleteReading your post was very interesting, to learn about the reason why our bodies have to maintain homeostasis was informative. For the second question I wish you would've elaborated more on the different changes that our bodies evolved to in order to combat overheating like our ability to sweat. I agree with you that human genetics can help us learn about the human body. I also agree with you that environmental stresses than race because it explains our differences as a species to one another. Overall good post!
interesting, I found heat stress pretty interesting too, But like what about it In Specific though? neat topic though, interesting human variation dealing with heat stress.
ReplyDelete