Peripheral regions: characteristics and development

¶ … Role of Geography in Human Adaptation," researchers Graham Coop and his colleagues examined the way that human beings evolve in a given location and whether or not the climate and topography of their homeland has any influence on that evolution. Since the discovery of evolution and adaptation, scientists have tried to find causations for certain adaptations and how they pass down through generations. Only in relatively recent periods have populations begun to mix genetically. Thus the population of a region will likely have had millennia to evolve and adapt to the particular geography of their environment. If geography does indeed have an impact on genealogy, then it is likely that people will begin to see genealogical adaptations which take into consideration the changing geography of our modern world.

The basic thesis in which the researchers are exploring does make a lot of since with what people have come to accept as fact regarding evolution and adaptation. Scientists in past studies have proven that things such as skin color were the result of evolutionary adaptations to the amount of sunlight that a population was exposed to. Thus their bodies learned to either increase or decrease melanin, or pigment. This adaptation would then be passed down to their children and through the years. Scientifically, this is the reason why there are predominantly light skinned people in arctic locations, such as Norway. Light skinned individuals require less sunlight and in arctic climes, there is less daily sunlight for the skin to absorb. Similarly, those who live in locations where there is more sunlight will more than likely evolve to have darker skins so that they can use the solar energy without damaging their health in the process.

Genealogy is determined by DNA, which are characteristics within the human body which provide characteristics for that human. Half of the characterizing chromosomes, or alleles, come from the father parent and the other half from the mother of the offspring. These alleles will also be affected by the environment that the human being exists in. For example, impurities within the environment of that individual can mutate chromosomes and alter the genealogy of a being within a single generation. However, other forms of genetic mutation which result in evolution of the species takes many generations. For this reason, researchers cannot determine conclusively which factors within the geography of a location will impact genealogy and thus subsequent generations.

The final determination of scientists was that geography almost certainly had an important part in the creation of adaptations of peoples from their original nomadic tribes. However, it is as yet difficult to tell if certain geographical alterations will lead to a direct alteration in the genealogical alleles of human beings. The conclusion being that it takes some severe trauma in order to create a human evolution. So, if there is to be a visible change in human adaptation because of geographical change, the change in topography and climate will have to be so dramatic and sudden that it creates an immediate need with the human population to adapt.