1. Cold weather can cause blood vessels
in certain parts of the body to constrict and cause a breakdown in the immune
system. Once this has occurred, bacteria can then take over the body and cause
sickness that can result in death. Hypothermia can also occur when the core
body temperature falls to 94 degrees Fahrenheit. At this point homeostasis is
disturbed because the body’s natural temperature regulating system stats to
fail, thus making the body cool even faster.
2. Humans have learned a number of ways
to cope with cold temperatures. One way is through cultural adaptations such as
the following four examples: thicker clothing, insulated houses, fire, and
migration to a warmer climate.
3. The benefit of studying human variation across a range of environmental stresses are: it helps scientist come up with new ways to treat diseases, avoid mutations and reveal patterns of human population diversity.
4. To understand variations in cultural adaptations to cold weather, I would use race to follow patterns of adaptations to cold weather in different cold climates around the world. For example, I would compare one race in a region to another race in a different region who both live in similar climates. This way I would be able to see the affects that the environment has on the variations and compare them accordingly.
The issue of hypothermia is the point that needs to be addressed in the first section. Constriction of blood vessels is actually an adaptation to cold weather, so it is a positive change (in the short term). There is some question as to whether cold weather reduces your immune response or if cold weather just sends everyone inside to be sneezed upon by sick people. [shrug] Regardless, this is a secondary effect of cold (possibly) and not a primary problem of homeostasis.
ReplyDeleteThe instructions asked you to identify four different adaptations to cold stress, one from each of the four types listed: short term, facultative, developmental and cultural. You have the cultural covered, but you're missing the other three which, from a biological perspective, were the most important!
Good explanation for the benefits of the adaptive approach.
You might have had an easier time answering the last question if you had completed Part 2 correctly. Race really has no relationship at all with cultural practices, since race is based solely upon external physical appearances. So can race be used to explain human biological (genetic) variation?