Human ecological adaptations UPSC | Environmental Geography | Physical geography

What is adaptation?

• The general meaning of adaptation is how the species changes its body structure, behavior to better suit the environment.
• Adaptation leads to evolution.

Human ecological adaptation answer the following question: 

• Why some people are dark in color? 
• Why hilly people are of short height? 
• Why hilly people eat rice instead of wheat? 
• Why people have eyebrows? 
• Why people do not have a tail? 

The human being is part of the ecosystem. People's behavior and their gene also change with the environment, in order to survive. In the determinist approach of geography, it has considered, humans as the passive agent, all actions and changes in humans are the results of environmental change. But the same is not true, the human is the intelligent animal, they adopt and also change the environment that is suited to him.
The following two types of adaptation which make human to retain top position in the ecosystem.

Types of human ecological adaptation 

Biological adaptation:

Transformations:

• from ape to hominid to homo sapiens

Physiological adaptation:

• change in the body in order to survive:
• S1 shaped spins:
• erected posture 
• Opposite thumbs: 
• help to hold the thumb
• Eyes: 
• in frontal lobe & stereoscopic vision, help depth perception better.
• Dental:
•  structure of dental help in omnivorous diet = vegetation + non-vegetation
• Intellect: 
• cranial capacity is Large

Cultural adaptation:

Over time, human not only survived but also reach the top position of ecology because of the following cultural adaptations:

• Better hunting opportunity if living in groups.
• Use of Fire
• Doing agriculture: not dependent on the mercy of forest and wild, making its own way to sustain. 
• Migration to a place where resources are abundant to survive.
• New revolution: 
• the fire was the first important innovation of humans, the second was agriculture, humans keep innovating from fire, agriculture, urbanization, industrialization, computer, nanotechnology, quantum computer, etc. 

At present, due to human innovation, some problems do arises such as waste handling, pollution, global warming, climate change, biodiversity losses, etc. But sustainable development is the way to the solution of all problems. The usage of sustainable development and the neo deterministic of G Taylor could help to retain the top position of the human in the ecosystem.

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