Essay about The Evolution of Human Skin Color

In the article Skin Deep written by Nina Jablonski and George Chaplin, they discuss and look deeper into the diverse differences in skin color. Our skin color has developed over the years to be dark enough to prevent the damaging sunlight that has been harming our skin and the nutrient folate that it carries. At the same time out skin is light enough to receive vitamin D.

The skin colors differ because of the way evolution works. If you goto the sahara you will be expecting a lot more sun so vitamin D won't be as big as a problem unless you get to much, so people naturally evolved to have darker skin. While on the other hand the people living in the arctic evolved to have lighter skin to absorb more of vitamin D, this is because whiter skin reflects heat, but absorbs more vitamin D.

Animals fight for survival daily, and sometimes their lives depend on their ability to adapt with their surrounding environments. Natural Selection is the process in which individuals have certain traits that allow

Source: Figure obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Graph retrieved 18 October 2009 from http://www.cpc. ncep.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/uv_index/gif_files/uvi_world_f1.gif. This U.S. Government material is not subject to copyright protection within the United States.

In what he called the ‘survival of the fittest’, Darwin suggested that through the process of natural selection animals with particular characteristics, as a result of possessing advantageous alleles, will survive. However, those with maladaptive genes cannot adapt to changes in environmental conditions, so will die or become extinct. Dowling (1994) stated that this process depends on three principles: species diversity, interaction and the spread of a species as a result of differential amplification. Sexual selection is another component of Darwin’s research, which explains the best strategies adopted for passing on genes to offspring. Moreover, there are problems with Darwin’s theory such as his attempts to generalise animal behaviour to the way in which humans interact in their environment. However, he has presented compelling evidence which is very scientific in its approach and methodology. Furthermore, contrary to Darwin’s evolutionary idea of survival of an individual, Dawkins (1976) suggested that the survival of the genes is more important.

Melanin is the pigment in the skin that absorbs ultraviolet light and protects the skin from sun damage, so the less pigment in a person’s skin the less protection they have

Every body has a different amount of pigment in their skin , that's how we are all different .

Natural selection is considered one of the most important processes for a variety of species and the environment which allows the fittest organisms to produce offspring. To prevent a species from extinction, it is necessary for them to adapt to the surrounding environment. The species which have the ability to adapt to new surroundings will be able to pass their genes through reproduction. Within the process of natural selection, it is possible for the original genetic make-up of a species to become altered. The team will report on the different processes of basic mechanisms of evolution, how natural selection results in biodiversity and why biodiversity is important to continued evolution. The sources of genetic

According to our reads, there is no biological evidence for race. But unfortunately for the last 500 years or so, people have been taught to except that just because our skin color and cultures might be different than each other, that we are “other”.

Years ago Charles Darwin created the theory of natural selection. He attempted to explain how evolution worked, and his theory is now regarded as correct. Natural selection states that animals with traits that are better suited to their environment will survive and reproduce more. This would explain how evolution works. Groups of animals with the most beneficial traits survive and are able to reproduce. While the other group has difficulty surviving and would therefore reproduce less. The variation between that type of animal would come from a random mutation which turned out to be useful. An animal may get a mutation which is either beneficial or disadvantageous to the organism (1). As time progresses there are a larger amount of animals with the beneficial trait, while there is a lot less animals with the older trait. Natural selection correlates to the phrase “survival of the fittest” meaning that animals with beneficial traits will survive, while those without will die (2). Theoretically, this could lead to an entire change of the population; leaving only the group that can survive easily and produce more offspring.

Natural selection happens when individuals increase their chances of survival and ability to produce offspring with the same traits. As the individuals with this trait mate, the genes spread throughout the population and individuals with those genes then increase in number and pass this useful trait on to their offspring. Therefore, natural selection explains how population adapt to their environmental conditions. Also, unlike evolution, which occurs in populations, natural selection occurs in individuals (Miller, 2007, pg. 85). The term “survival of the fittest” refers to organism that possess more advantageous traits, and therefore continue to survive in their suited environments, even when other organisms are unable too. Their favorable

A major function of melanin is to act as a defensive barrier of the skin against radiation damage. Ultraviolet light between the wavelengths 280-320nm (UV-B) causes sunburn and damages the skin on nonpigmented peoples. Exposure to this degree of light causes their skin to become dry, leathery, and wrinkled in appearance similar to that associated with aging. This can be seen in Whites living in Australia and South Africa, where ultraviolet light intensity is high because of the relative latitude or closeness to the equator.

We often connect ourselves to the world through our appearances. One of the first characteristics we notice about another human is the color of their skin. It is unavoidable, as the largest organ of the body, it covers and highlights our individual features and forms a protective wall against the elements. There is no escape from the social repercussions our pigmentation causes no matter what range of the very broad spectrum of color we fall into. I have never thought so much about the genetic and social evolution of skin and its properties until I read Nina Jablonski’s Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color. This book encompasses, in great detail, how our skin has evolved, adapted and mutated throughout time and in what

In this chapter, the topics of natural selection and the struggle for existence. He makes the important point that these two concepts are intertwined, especially because the struggle for existence will eventually ‘weed out’ some organisms while those who have variations which are favorable for the environment will survive, adapt and pass on their genes to the next generation. He also highlights the role that the environment plays in the struggle for existence; a particular variation might let a species thrive in one environment but might be disadvantageous in another environment. In this way, the most useful adaptations for success in a particular environment is inherited by offspring and the less advantageous characteristic die out as organisms that possess them do. He also talks about the role of nature in the struggle for existence by citing the fact that events like natural disasters and even predator-prey relationships allow for the survival of some organisms,

Natural selection does not create organisms that are perfectly adapted to their environment for various reasons. One constraint is the fact that the environment is always changing. Disturbances in the environment are often caused by human influences and natural ecological processes that change what traits are beneficial to the organisms in order to survive in their particular surroundings. In the article, "Adaptation, Plasticity, and Extinction in a Changing Environment: Towards a Predictive Theory", it states that, “the unusual rate and extent of anthropogenic alterations of the environment may exceed the capacity of developmental, genetic, and demographic mechanisms that populations have evolved to deal with environmental change” (Chevin,