How Does Climate Affect Human Evolution
Human Evolution FA1302
8 December 2013
Did Climate Affect Human Evolution?
Climate and environmental change has played a vital role in Earth’s history, and the outcome of these changes has been anything but idle in the evolution of primates. These drastic transformations in the planet’s atmosphere have been the impetus of evolution among species and has sparked interest to geologist and paleoanthropologist for years, resulting in a number of hypothesis that “propose that climate-driven environmental changes during the past 7 million years were responsible for hominin speciation, the morphological shift to bipedality, enlarged cranial capacity, and behavioral adaptability” (Behrensmeyer 476). For this theory to be properly supported, the antecedent question that needs to be identified is, do species adapt to change? …show more content…
He expressed this theory through the idea that animals and various primates partake in the act of natural selection. In 1997, the National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Darwin’s theory by gathering a research team together and running a serious of studies that demonstrated “that animals can adapt to sudden changes in their environment with surprising speed” (Dybas, Chery 1). Researchers Frank Shaw and Ruth Shaw of the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, and F. Helen Rodd of the University of California used wild guppies from the West Indies island of Trinidad and found that “fish that were moved from a predator-infested pool to a pool with just one predator grew larger, lived longer and produced fewer but larger offspring. In the span of seven to 18 generations--between four and 11 years--they became more like the native guppies in the relatively predator-free environment” (Dybas, Chery
8 December 2013
Did Climate Affect Human Evolution?
Climate and environmental change has played a vital role in Earth’s history, and the outcome of these changes has been anything but idle in the evolution of primates. These drastic transformations in the planet’s atmosphere have been the impetus of evolution among species and has sparked interest to geologist and paleoanthropologist for years, resulting in a number of hypothesis that “propose that climate-driven environmental changes during the past 7 million years were responsible for hominin speciation, the morphological shift to bipedality, enlarged cranial capacity, and behavioral adaptability” (Behrensmeyer 476). For this theory to be properly supported, the antecedent question that needs to be identified is, do species adapt to change? …show more content…
He expressed this theory through the idea that animals and various primates partake in the act of natural selection. In 1997, the National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Darwin’s theory by gathering a research team together and running a serious of studies that demonstrated “that animals can adapt to sudden changes in their environment with surprising speed” (Dybas, Chery 1). Researchers Frank Shaw and Ruth Shaw of the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, and F. Helen Rodd of the University of California used wild guppies from the West Indies island of Trinidad and found that “fish that were moved from a predator-infested pool to a pool with just one predator grew larger, lived longer and produced fewer but larger offspring. In the span of seven to 18 generations--between four and 11 years--they became more like the native guppies in the relatively predator-free environment” (Dybas, Chery