ANTH 1001 : TEST 2 ANTH 1001
Document Summary
Human bio cultural adaptation: examples: sickle cell and other red blood cell variants; lactose sufficiency. Lactase- enzyme that allows you to digest lactose, which is a sugar in milk. Lactose intolerance- deficiency in lactase symptoms: diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps, gas: humans can digest milk as babies, but most of us lose the ability aftger weaning, adults in some populations are lactose intolerant. Evolution of lactose intolerance: populations with long histories of dairying are typically lactase tolerant, mutation for ability to digest milk as adults would have provided a natural selective advantage. Human variation: our species is polytypic, polytypism- phenotypically different populations in a species, polytypism is result of diversity of environments that we inhabit. Our populations diversify because of natural selection, but our populations remain within a single species because of gene flow: race- not a biologically useful grouping of humans.