Annotated bibliography
Question: Why have humans evolved to have different skin colors?
Rationale: As time progressed humans became more and more intelligent. As their brain sizes grew, they were able to manipulate new habitats and they were able to live in different regions. At the beginning, we were suited for a particular habitat, but we became increasingly more intelligent and we were able to occupy different habitats. We were originally suited for areas of high sunlight very close to the equator but we slowly started to disperse and as we began to move to new locations, we slowly began to adapt to them. Having a dark pigmentation at high latitudes would be a disadvantage. Why it was necessary for humans to evolve different skin colors as they began to disperse, and especially how did geographical location play a role in this?
Mittelstaedt, M. 2007 Evolutionary Adaptations: The Impact of Lighter Skin, Historical Newspapers, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Globe and Mail (1844-2011) …show more content…
He explains why it is better for people to have lighter skin colors if they live at higher altitudes because it allows to make more Vitamin D. At high altitudes there is not much sunlight. Melanin acts like a natural sunscreen. The darker your skin color the more melanin you have, so the less sunlight you will be able to absorb. The UV from the sun allows for the production of Vitamin D. This is an evolutionary adaptation that is advantageous because the different pigmentations in skin color either protects people from UV rays or the levels of pigmentation would allow them absorb more sunlight therefore making more Vitamin D. It has been found that it takes people of lighter complexion to make the same amount of Vitamin D from the sun one-sixth of the time that it takes people with a darker complexion such as African
Question: Why have humans evolved to have different skin colors?
Rationale: As time progressed humans became more and more intelligent. As their brain sizes grew, they were able to manipulate new habitats and they were able to live in different regions. At the beginning, we were suited for a particular habitat, but we became increasingly more intelligent and we were able to occupy different habitats. We were originally suited for areas of high sunlight very close to the equator but we slowly started to disperse and as we began to move to new locations, we slowly began to adapt to them. Having a dark pigmentation at high latitudes would be a disadvantage. Why it was necessary for humans to evolve different skin colors as they began to disperse, and especially how did geographical location play a role in this?
Mittelstaedt, M. 2007 Evolutionary Adaptations: The Impact of Lighter Skin, Historical Newspapers, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Globe and Mail (1844-2011) …show more content…
He explains why it is better for people to have lighter skin colors if they live at higher altitudes because it allows to make more Vitamin D. At high altitudes there is not much sunlight. Melanin acts like a natural sunscreen. The darker your skin color the more melanin you have, so the less sunlight you will be able to absorb. The UV from the sun allows for the production of Vitamin D. This is an evolutionary adaptation that is advantageous because the different pigmentations in skin color either protects people from UV rays or the levels of pigmentation would allow them absorb more sunlight therefore making more Vitamin D. It has been found that it takes people of lighter complexion to make the same amount of Vitamin D from the sun one-sixth of the time that it takes people with a darker complexion such as African