ANT 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sickle-Cell Disease, Frontal Lobe, Melanocyte

• School: University of Florida
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANT 2000
• Professor: Donald Berces

Document Summary

Biologi(cid:272)al (cid:448)ariatio(cid:374) (cid:449)ithi(cid:374) a(cid:374)(cid:455) gi(cid:448)e(cid:374) (cid:862)t(cid:455)pe(cid:863) is as great or greater tha(cid:374) (cid:448)ariatio(cid:374) (cid:271)et(cid:449)ee(cid:374) types. Traits chosen for racial classification are arbitrary and do not co-vary. No si(cid:374)gle (cid:862)ra(cid:272)e(cid:863) has sole possessio(cid:374) of a(cid:374)(cid:455) parti(cid:272)ular trait. Culture and history determine the way we perceive biological variation. A gradient consists of phenotypic and or genotypic differences within a species over a geographic area, often as a result of adaptation to environments that are themselves clinal in variables like temperature or seasonality. Blood type -> would be like splitting humans into unambiguous groups. Things that affect color of skin: transparency of skin, amount of carotene, amount of melanin. Melanin is a dark pigment produced my melanocytes in the epidermis of skin. People with darker skin have more melanocytes than people with lighter skin. E(cid:454)posure to su(cid:374)light i(cid:374)(cid:272)reases (cid:373)ela(cid:374)i(cid:374) produ(cid:272)tio(cid:374), (cid:272)ausi(cid:374)g ski(cid:374) to (cid:862)ta(cid:374)(cid:863) a(cid:374)d prote(cid:272)ti(cid:374)g it from overexposure to uv radiation.