Cold Climates!

1.            Select only ONE of the following environmental stresses: (a) heat, (b) high levels of solar radiation, (c) cold, or (d) high altitude. Discuss specifically how this environmental stress negatively impacts the survival of humans by disturbing homeostasis. (5 pts)

The cold can disturb our homeostasis by making us colder than our normal body temperature. During the winter when it is cold, if felt a slight wind or some sort of cold air one fels frozen, when during the summer when feeling this cold air it is refreshing. This is because our body can only adapt to a certain degree and going below that you start to find heat and shiver.

2.            Identify 4 ways in which humans have adapted to this stress, choosing one specific adaptation from each of the different types of adaptations listed above (short term, facultative, developmental and cultural). Include images of the adaptations. (5 pts each/ 20 pts total)

SHORT TERM: When feeling cold one will cover up or blow on their hands a bit of hot air to warm up.

FACULTATIVE: When having to live for a longer period of time in a climate not accustomed to, one has to change their way of thinking and their body will start to adapt to the change for the time being.

DEVELOPMENTAL: The way one develops when living in colder climates is different the one living in a warmer climate. The body will know how to adapt, for example, by conserving more fats in ones body in order to produce more heat for one

CULTURAL: Different cultures learn to survive in the cold by relying on one another for heat. They keep each other warm and it would be difficult to move out of cold climates because they would not be use to it.

3.            What are the benefits of studying human variation from this perspective across environmental clines? Can information from explorations like this be useful to help us in any way? Offer one example of how this information can be used in a productive way. (5 pts)

This information would be very useful to see how different people could adapt to any different environment. We as people tend to not look outside of the box and just focus on our environment. We don’t think of how others adapt, in California we should consider ourselves lucky to have a variety of climates because our bodies could adapt to different climates.

4.How would you use race to understand the variation of the adaptations you listed in #2? Explain why the study of environmental influences on adaptations is a better way to understand human variation than by the use of race. (10 pts)

I don’t think there is a way to use race to understand these adaptations. I believe it could be based on culture more than anything and what and how these cultures will adapt to different environments.

Language...

          For part one I found this experiment a bit hard. I couldn’t help but laugh at seeing the other person’s reaction but it was an interesting assignment. I would always want to just jump in and say something in words but I knew I couldn’t. So keeping quite was hard. It seemed like my partners were getting frustrated to not hear me speaking back to them. They would ask me the question a few times waiting for the answer they wanted, after a while they just didn’t want to speak to me anymore. I would think that the ones communicating verbally would have the advantage. It is easier for the ones speaking verbally to get things done. I can see this difficulty in the hard of hearing and the mute. It must be very difficult for them to get their point across to people and the only way would be writing or just doing things on their own.

            I was not able to do the whole 15 minutes for Part 2. As much as I tried, I would try to not use my hands or facial expressions I would end up finding myself using them. It was difficult to just be a person sitting there as if I didn’t even exist. They found my communication funny because I was expressionless. To them it was like talking to a wall or a doll. I had never really realized how much I use my hands or facial expressions when talking. I feel like in this world we just see speech as something everyone should have, and forget those who are mute or deaf. I now see how important it is to be able to speak and use our expressions. I think there are people that have a difficulty reading body language. Not everyone may take body language the same way. I think it is important to be able to read body language in order to know how a person really feels. If a person says please but has a very strong body language then you may see that person isn’t being sincere. Body language says a lot about you and how you feel. Not sure when body language wouldn’t be used because I feel body language is important to get to know a person.

Piltdown hoax

Charles Dawson discovered the hoax in the early 1900’s. He found what he thought was some sort of human skull. It was found in 1912 in a town called Piltdown. After WWII  they had discovered that the Piltdown hoax were younger than they had thought. They figured the skull to be around 100 thousand years old then the jaw around the 100s.

Faults are always found and fingers are always pointed. In this situation Charles Dawson wanted to feel successful for these findings and went through with it with all the wrong reasons.

The scientific process for this fraud was fluoride testing which was still not invented during the time of discovery. The fluoride shows the age of the fossil by the fluorine it contains. They discovered the difference in years and how much younger they really were.

Yes, it could be possible to remove human factor from science, but is it a good idea, I don’t think so. Human mistakes are always going to happen and it is what makes science, science. Which is why we test things, make mistakes and better from them.

The life lesson that I take from this event is that we must always look deeper into science and look further into ideas. Not everyone or everything is what it seems and we should take the time to find the truth of things instead of just lying and making things worse.

Comparative Primate

Lemur- The Lemur is from Madagascar and it is a nocturnal animal. The Lemurs diet consists of fruits plants and at times insects. Their diet varies based on their breed. Smaller lemurs eat mainly fruits and sometimes insects. Bigger breeds will eat plants such as bamboo.  They could have adapted to this diet because Lemurs are mostly seen on trees. Leaves and fruits grow on trees and this was probably the way they’ve adapted to their diet.

Spider Monkey- The Spider is mostly found in tropical places, such as south America. Their Diet consists mostly of fruits and nuts. They also may be seen eating little insects on barks of trees. The spider monkey lives on trees could have adapted to the fruit grown on them and the insects on the bark of the tree. They will eat hanging or even swinging from branch to branch.

Baboon- Baboons live in the savannahs and woodlands. Their diet consist of a variety of things. Grass is a major part of their diet but also eat different berries, flowers, plants, seeds and insects. They could have adapted to this diet because of their environment, they will eat what is around them and what they find.

Gibbon- The Gibbon is found in places like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Their diet is mainly made up of fruits and leaves.  Their adaptation is mostly because of their tropical type habitat where fruit and plants grow very much.

Chimpanzee- The Chimpanzee lives in Western and Central Africa. The Chimpanzee is much like the human and their diet consist of fruits and some meat. They are in the forest, which is where they could find the fruits and leaves. They will eat insects and bugs and will occasionally eat small animals.

I believe that these primates’ environments has a lot to do with their diet. They seem to have much of a similar diet. Their habitat has a great influence on their diet because they seem to adapt to what is around them. The ones that could adapt to any environment, it seems that their diet consist of a wider variety.

homologous vs. analogous

1.For your homologus traits provide the following information (25 pts):

a.                  Briefly describe the two different species that possess the homologus trait. (5 pts)

The two species that have homologous traits are whales and humans. A human is a species that lives on land with two legs two arms. A whale is a species that lives underwater and has two fins and a tail.

b.                  Describe the homologus trait of each species, focusing on the differences in structure and function of the trait. Why do these homologus traits exhibit differences between the two species? Make sure your explanation is clear and complete. (10 pts)

The homologous traits that humans and whales have in common are a whale’s fin and a human arm. The structure is not physically the same, a fin is round or oval type shaped and an arm is long has a wrist and has five fingers at the end of it. What they have in common is their skeletal structure. Both have a radius, ulna, carpal bones, metacarpal bones, and phalanges.

c.                  Who was (generally, not specifically) the common ancestor of these two species and how do you know that ancestor possessed this homologus trait? (5 pts)

It is possible that whales and humans had a common ancestry that had the same skeletal structure. It could be that whales had legs as well but at one point lost that ability and have now fins. Humans still need their legs to survive therefore, humans still kept their legs.

d.                  Provide an image of each species in this comparison. (5 pts)

2.For your analogous traits provide the following information (25 pts):

a.                  Briefly describe the two different species that possess the analogous trait. (5 pts)

The two species that have an analogous trait is a butterfly and a bird. A butterfly is a beautiful species that has wings and antennas, flies around and drinks nectar. A bird is a species that has feathers, beaks and claws. They fly as well and migrate when needed.

b.                  Describe the analogous trait of each species, focusing on the similarities in structure and function of the trait. Clearly explain why these analogous traits exhibit similarities between the two species. (10 pts)

The butterfly and bird both have the analogous trait of wings. Both a butterfly and a bird use their wings to fly and get to their destination.

c.                  All pairs of organisms share some common ancestor if you go back far enough in time. Did the common ancestor of these two species possess this analogous trait? Why or why not? (5 pts)

There is a high chance that these two species do not have a similar ancestry due to the fact that one is an insect and the other has a skeletal structure and is a bird. The may share some sort of ancestry but possibly very little.

d.                  Provide an image of each species in this comparison. (5 pts)