Human cold adaptation: An unfinished agenda
Abstract 1975 marked the end of a 20‐year period of human biology research on physical environment. The focus then shifted from climatic adaptation to problems of nutrition, disease, and stress. However, many questions about human environmental patterns, especially in reference to their evolution, w...
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crwiley:10.1002/ajhb.20614 2024-09-15T18:15:05+00:00 Human cold adaptation: An unfinished agenda Steegmann, A. Theodore 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.20614 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fajhb.20614 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajhb.20614 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor American Journal of Human Biology volume 19, issue 2, page 218-227 ISSN 1042-0533 1520-6300 journal-article 2007 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.20614 2024-07-23T04:16:07Z Abstract 1975 marked the end of a 20‐year period of human biology research on physical environment. The focus then shifted from climatic adaptation to problems of nutrition, disease, and stress. However, many questions about human environmental patterns, especially in reference to their evolution, were abandoned rather than resolved. Assumptions about cold protective functions of low surface area/body mass ratio are entrenched in physical anthropology, despite lack of experimental validation. Since heat loss is controlled by vasoregulation and tissue insulation, a simple physics model of SA:mass may not apply. The issue merits investigation, as do the assumed thermal advantages of foreshortened extremities. Physiological assessment remains our primary research tool. In cold climate natives, elevated basal metabolic rates now appear to be genetically induced. During cold exposure, the body manages heat conservation through well known channels but also by specialized thermogenic functions such as metabolism in brown adipose tissue (BAT). The powerful protective capacity of BAT is largely unexplored either within or between populations of cold exposed human adults. An irony of our profession is that many biological variables seem to have minor effects when compared to behavioral cold protections. This is partly because biological anthropologists may have made incorrect assumptions about what most threatens the well being of cold climate people. Contrasts in environmental behaviors when comparing northern cultures such as Inuit, Athabaskan, and Norse are particularly instructive. Adaptations to life in the cold may ultimately reveal their secrets through biocultural research design modeling of environmental research. With both practical and theoretical gains still wide open, the field needs renewed attention from human biology. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 19:218–227, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. Article in Journal/Newspaper inuit Wiley Online Library American Journal of Human Biology 19 2 218 227 |
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Abstract 1975 marked the end of a 20‐year period of human biology research on physical environment. The focus then shifted from climatic adaptation to problems of nutrition, disease, and stress. However, many questions about human environmental patterns, especially in reference to their evolution, were abandoned rather than resolved. Assumptions about cold protective functions of low surface area/body mass ratio are entrenched in physical anthropology, despite lack of experimental validation. Since heat loss is controlled by vasoregulation and tissue insulation, a simple physics model of SA:mass may not apply. The issue merits investigation, as do the assumed thermal advantages of foreshortened extremities. Physiological assessment remains our primary research tool. In cold climate natives, elevated basal metabolic rates now appear to be genetically induced. During cold exposure, the body manages heat conservation through well known channels but also by specialized thermogenic functions such as metabolism in brown adipose tissue (BAT). The powerful protective capacity of BAT is largely unexplored either within or between populations of cold exposed human adults. An irony of our profession is that many biological variables seem to have minor effects when compared to behavioral cold protections. This is partly because biological anthropologists may have made incorrect assumptions about what most threatens the well being of cold climate people. Contrasts in environmental behaviors when comparing northern cultures such as Inuit, Athabaskan, and Norse are particularly instructive. Adaptations to life in the cold may ultimately reveal their secrets through biocultural research design modeling of environmental research. With both practical and theoretical gains still wide open, the field needs renewed attention from human biology. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 19:218–227, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Steegmann, A. Theodore |
spellingShingle |
Steegmann, A. Theodore Human cold adaptation: An unfinished agenda |
author_facet |
Steegmann, A. Theodore |
author_sort |
Steegmann, A. Theodore |
title |
Human cold adaptation: An unfinished agenda |
title_short |
Human cold adaptation: An unfinished agenda |
title_full |
Human cold adaptation: An unfinished agenda |
title_fullStr |
Human cold adaptation: An unfinished agenda |
title_full_unstemmed |
Human cold adaptation: An unfinished agenda |
title_sort |
human cold adaptation: an unfinished agenda |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.20614 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fajhb.20614 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajhb.20614 |
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inuit |
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inuit |
op_source |
American Journal of Human Biology volume 19, issue 2, page 218-227 ISSN 1042-0533 1520-6300 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.20614 |
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American Journal of Human Biology |
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19 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
218 |
op_container_end_page |
227 |
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1810452828395667456 |